Meet the Squib
by SweetDeamon
Summary: "And it's a sick, stagnant society, Pan. It's not going anywhere and it never truly has been! Somebody ought to fix it. Somebody ought make it better..." Set in the AU 'Meet the...' 'ficverse. TLOC RLNT.
1. September The First

_Note: Hello everybody, this is __**Meet the Squib**__, likely to be the __**final multi-chaptered story**__ set in the Meet the... 'ficverse. For any newcomers, this is an AU 'ficverse in which Remus and Tonks survived the final battle. Teddy's wife is a muggle named Carrie, whose exploits and misadventures from the age of eleven have been explored in previous stories. _

_**A chronological list of all stories in this series can be found on my profile.**_

_We rejoin the Lupins around seventeen years after the events of Meet the Daughter! Shockingly, we have a change of perspective that may well prove controversial and foolish. But believe me when I say there is only so much drama a muggle like Carrie can cause in her life..._

_**This story is dedicated to anybody who has ever read, reviewed, voted in a poll about, favourited or in any way enjoyed a story in the Meet the... series**__. Thank you for warming to my vast cast of OC characters, especially Carrie Winters! The first story, Meet the Lupins, was posted in June 2010, which means I've been writing these stories for over two years! The first ever reviewer was __**Kathryn Marie Black**__! To anybody who has been reading and reviewing from the beginning (and I think there might be one or two of you): Thank you! I honestly wouldn't bother writing as often as I do if it wasn't for readers like you. I'm still just as surprised as I was two years ago that so many people were interested in a story with a muggle protagonist! I hope you all enjoy this story, which as I said will likely be the last one, despite it being distinctly different from all those that came before it! It even lacks the traditional introduction with those immortal words "Because the Lupins were magical..." _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**1: September the First**

September the first had, and always would be, Pandora Lupin's least favourite day of the year.

She had spent this, her most hated of days, in the same fashion ever since she had been eleven years of age, and though now at the age of sixteen she had little reason to carry on the tradition she felt compelled to do so anyway.

Because her grandparents would be expecting her.

On the first day of September for the past six years Pandora had been taken to her grandparents' bungalow out in the country, where she would spend the majority of her day sitting with her grandfather Remus by the fire in the sitting room, reading books and eating far too many sweets that her Nana Dora offered her at random intervals throughout the day.

The tradition had started when she had been eleven and her big sister Imogen had been off once again for a new school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

On her own.

Because in the previous months Pandora Christina Lupin had failed to receive her Hogwarts letter.

She would not be attending Hogwarts with her sister that year, or indeed any year. Because Pandora was a Squib.

"I won't go!" she'd shrieked and cried that morning when her mother Carrie had instructed her to put her shoes on, Imogen's trunk and caged owl sat waiting out on the front door step, ready for the family to head to King's Cross Station to wave Imogen off on the train. "I won't, I won't! They'll all look at me funny because I'm not going too! They'll think I'm a freak!"

"They'll think nothing of the sort, Sweetheart." her father had assured her as Imogen had slunk somewhat guiltily down the stairs, her black school cloak bearing the crest of Hufflepuff House draped over the crook of her arm. "You're not a freak, there's nothing wrong with you. Now get your shoes on, we'll be late if you don't hurry up!"

But Pandora had refused, shouted and sobbed so dreadfully that in the end the rest of the family gave up attempting to persuade her. She found herself ushered into the living room by her sister, who had grasped hold of her firmly by the shoulders as she had informed the sobbing girl:

"Mum's a muggle, Uncle Thom and Uncle Tim are muggles, Crazy Auntie Cleo is a muggle and so is the vast majority of the population of this planet, Pan. So believe me, you're not the freak! I am!" And with that Imogen had hugged her sister fiercely, demanded that she write every day and tell her all about her new muggle school, before bundling her into the floo and sending her off to her grandparents' house.

Imogen had only remained at Hogwarts for two more years before she had come of age and graduated, and yet every year since Pandora had still visited her grandparents on the first of September, the day that always reminded her of what she didn't have.

Despite the fact that her mother was a muggle and her father, who worked at the Ministry of Magic as an Auror, was often away working, Pandora always felt as if there was less magic going on at her grandparents' house, which always made her feel just a little bit better.

Remus and Dora Lupin had, ten years previously, moved out of their house in the town of Eddington where the rest of the family still lived, and bought a modest little bungalow in Kent. As a small child Pandora had been a little bemused by this drastic downsizing, but when she had informed her grandfather this he had chuckled and told her that they could not possibly have stayed in the old house; it was much too big and he struggled climbing the stairs with his knees being as stiff as they were. Pandora had soon concluded, however, that the new house was by far more fun than the old one. It had a very small garden itself, which her Nana Dora, despite claiming to hate gardening, spent the summer months cutting, pruning, planting and admiring now that she was retired from her position as Deputy Head of the Auror Department. Though the garden itself was small, the surrounding hills and countryside provided ample space to run and play.

But not on September the First. Because Pandora never felt like enjoying the countryside on a day like that.

On this particular September the First Pandora had very nearly broken with tradition and invited her sister Imogen to visit their grandparents with her, for the eldest Lupin sister had herself been in poor cheer that morning, owing to the fact that her boyfriend had just left the country for a week long holiday in the south of Spain.

Yet a selfish little part of Pandora had left her to enter the floo on her own, and it was alone her grandfather found her that morning as she climbed out of the fireplace in his cosy little sitting room, dusting the soot from the front of her jeans.

As he appeared to be most mornings, Remus Lupin was sat upon the sofa, reading that day's edition of the Daily Prophet through a pair of thin, golden-rimmed glasses with a permanent frown upon his brow.

Pandora half-skipped across the room and dropped down onto the sofa beside him, kicking off her shoes so that she could hug her legs to her chest, head coming to rest upon the old wizard's shoulder.

Remus turned a page of his newspaper as he observed:

"It's that time again, is it Lala?"

"Mm." the teenager mumbled, lips twitching towards a smile she couldn't quite manage.

Her grandfather had affectionately been referring to her as Lala for as long as she could remember, owing to one of her primary habits as a small child whenever sat upon his knee. Determined to distract him from his book, newspaper or chosen radio broadcast, she would first point and anything and everything she could lay her eyes upon, tugging at his jumper and asking: _What's that, Grandad?_

_It's a goblin, Sweetheart_, he'd explain patiently, _the manager of Gringott's to be precise_.

_It's my pocket watch, Darling, it's on a chain, look, so I don't lose it. _

_It's Nana's lipstick..._

_...a photo album..._

_...a fire poker..._

_...my glasses case..._

_...nothing, Sweetheart. It's nothing._

And when she had run out of things to point at, the young Pandora would instead break out into quiet, tuneless song, just loud enough to be a distraction.

_Lalala_...

At the age of ten or so she had grown quite indignant about Remus' choice of nickname, which the entire family soon became inclined to use, and had forbidden them say it all together. But her grandfather had a habit of going conveniently deaf whenever she voiced her complaints and he also seemed entirely incapable of understanding the perils and embarrassment of being named after a Teletubby, which in itself was a creature the wizard seemed unable to grasp the concept of in the first place.

And so it was that Remus happily went on calling her Lala, but nobody else ever did. By now Pandora was entirely resigned to it, and was in actual fact rather fond of this term of endearment.

Remus ran his eyes over the articles upon the new page of the newspaper, before setting about folding it up and setting it down upon his lap.

"When do you go back to school?" he asked his granddaughter, reaching to pat her comfortingly upon the knee, and she mumbled dismally:

"Two days."

"What's that?"

"_Two days_, Grandad."

"Ah, I see. And are you looking forward to it?"

Pandora barely suppressed a bad-tempered huff. She had never enjoyed going to school, not even primary school back before she had known she was a Squib. Unlike Imogen, who had been home-schooled by their grandfather up until the age of eleven, Pandora had only been left in Remus' charge from the ages of four to seven, whereupon she had been deposited at Eddington Park Primary School and left to fit in best she could.

Pandora could still recall the day her mother and father had sat her down to tell her of this change.

"The thing is, love," Carrie had said as she sat sandwiched between the two of them on their sofa, "Grandad...well he's getting older, isn't he?"

Was he? Pandora hadn't been sure. Of course her grandfather had always been old, that was just what grandfathers were. But she hadn't really thought of him ageing in particular, it was more as if he had been old forever and would stay that way too. Old. Not older.

Not too old.

"As much as he loves you, he thinks he's just getting too old to spend every day keeping an eye on you whilst Mum and I are at work." Teddy had said, "And now Nana Dora only goes into the Ministry as a consultant once in a while...well that makes her pretty much retired, doesn't it Sweetheart? And when you're retired, like Nana and Grandad are, that means you've reached the stage in your life when you get to relax and...and take time to do things together, at your own pace."

"It's not the time to be looking after children for hours on end."

"Precisely. And you'll much prefer going to school, you really will! I wish I'd gone to school like that!"

"It's wonderful, love. Primary school is wonderful, it's the best type of school you ever get to go to! You'll make lots of friends and have so much fun!"

Pandora had refused to speak to Remus for an entire week after that.

She had blamed him for the horrific shake up of her life whole-heartedly and was quite convinced that she would never forgive him for it.

Looking back on it now, she was pretty sure that her reaction had hurt her grandfather substantially. He had visited her almost every day in that week, offered to take her to the local sweet shop, offered to read her stories, teach her chess, and had even fixed her smashed bedside mirror after she had thrown it to the ground in a temper, finally breaking her silence with a shriek of: _You're the worst grandad in the whole entire world!_

No indeed, Pandora Lupin had never enjoyed going to school.

"It'll be nice to see my friends, I suppose." she decided, that being the most cheerful response she could muster, but her tone gave her away because Remus promptly sighed and observed:

"You've never looked forward to it."

"Not really, no."

"Sorry?"

"I said _not really, no_, Grandad."

"Ah." The werewolf patted his granddaughter upon the knee and told her: "Nana's making tea if you want a cup."

"Yes please, Grandad."

"I'll just go and tell her you're here..." he said, easing himself slowly up out of the chair before heading towards the door to the kitchen, calling: "Dora? Dora, Pan's here! Pour an extra cup, won't you darling?"

Pandora watched him go, frowning deeply, her thoughts still lost recalling primary school and how she had hated it, and when he returned a few minutes later, clutching a large biscuit barrel crammed full of a wide array of different biscuits, she waited for him to sit back down beside her before she asked:

"Grandad?"

"Lala?"

"You remember when you told Mum and Dad you didn't want to teach me anymore, that they'd have to send me to primary school?"

Remus didn't respond for a long moment. He had, admittedly, been growing increasingly hard of hearing in the past few years, but Pandora was certain that he had heard her perfectly clearly.

"I don't remember it like that at all, Sweetheart." he told her eventually, sounding somewhat stung. "I never once told Mum and Dad I didn't want to teach you. We just agreed...as a family...that primary school would be what was best for you."

"Did you all know, back then?" Pandora asked, failing not to sound a little accusing despite herself. "Did you all know I was a Squib? Is that...is that why you made me go?!"

"No, no! We had no idea..."

"But I wasn't showing any signs of magic!"

"You were only seven, plenty of magical children don't show any signs of being magical until they are quite old. We had no idea you were a Squib, Lala. That had nothing to do with us sending you to school."

"Then why was it best for me? Imogen didn't go..."

"You weren't like Imogen. She was a boisterous little monster who spoke to anybody or anything that would listen! You, on the other hand, were a delicate little thing, awfully quiet and shy. Nana Dora used to walk you to the shops in the village and you'd be so shy you wouldn't so much as hand over your pocket money to the lady behind the counter in the newsagents! You needed bringing out of yourself, Sweetheart. You didn't need me keeping you wrapped up in cotton wool, for Merlin's sake! I couldn't imagine sending you off to...to Hogwarts or any school for that matter when you turned eleven! So Mum and Dad decided the best thing to do was to send you to primary school, to break you in gently." Remus reached to pull the lid from the biscuit barrel somewhat triumphantly before offering it to the girl sat beside him with a broad smile. "And look how you've turned out! Utterly delightful..."

"That's the definition of biased, right there." a voice from the doorway observed and as she selected herself a biscuit, Pandora looked up to watch her grandmother step into the room, carrying a trio of mugs.

"Oh be quiet!" her grandfather insisted, waving a dismissive hand in his wife's direction. "Don't you know what day it is?!"

"What's that, love?" Dora Lupin asked as she set the three mugs down upon the low coffee table.

"It's the First of September!" Remus announced grandly, and as she reached to tuck a stray strand of snowy too-white hair behind her ear, Dora broke out into a broad smile as she recalled:

"Ah, my favourite day of the year!"

"And mine." Remus agreed, leaving Pandora to struggle not to grimace.

"You can't beat the annual Spoil Pan Rotten Day, that's for sure!" Dora chuckled as she took a seat in a squashy armchair.

"It's the only day I get to eat at least ten different types of chocolate in one afternoon." Remus recalled, causing his wife to snap:

"I should hope not! It's Pan's chocolate, it's not for you! At your age, for Merlin's sake! Fancy getting diabetes, d'you?"

"She's a battleaxe, your Nana." Remus informed his granddaughter in a non-too quiet whisper, and in an equally non-too quiet whisper to make sure he heard every syllable correctly Pandora assured him:

"Don't worry Grandad, I'll sneak you some Honeyduke's Finest under the table at lunch."

"Dreadful girl!" Dora exclaimed, slapping her hands down upon the arms of the chair in emphasis as her husband reached once again for his newspaper with a chuckle. "Stop encouraging him and come here! Showing up here without a single word of greeting to me, whatever next?!"

Pandora reached to set the biscuit barrel down upon the coffee table before getting carefully to her feet. Crossing the room in just a few short strides she consented to leaning down to give her grandmother a firm hug.

"Hello Nana."

"Alright love?" the witch asked, leaning to hug her back, planting a firm kiss upon her cheek. "How's Mum?"

"She's fine."

"Getting on well at work, is she?"

"Yep. She wants to know if you and Grandad want to come for dinner tomorrow. She's got the afternoon off and says she's doing a roast."

"Sounds lovely. How about Imogen?"

"She's sulking because Jamie left for Spain yesterday."

"Hm. Well you tell her from me, won't you, that she's much too old to be mooning after boys in such a pathetic manner, d'you hear? Twenty one is no age for that sort of nonsense."

"Hypocrite." Remus muttered under his breath, but unlike him his wife's hearing was as clear as a whistle and she shot him a distinctly amused frown and elaborated:

"What I mean is at the age of twenty one Imogen should be more concerned with finding herself a decent _job_."

"You sound like Dad." Pandora sniggered, only for Remus to sigh heavily and mutter:

"Leave the poor girl alone, for Merlin's sake. She's got a job..."

"Dad says it isn't a proper job." Pandora pointed out a little smugly as she went back to sit down beside him, and her grandmother informed her:

"Dad's right, love."

"_Dora_...!"

"What? Ted _is_ right, Remus, it's not a proper job at all!"

"You think anybody who doesn't join the Aurors doesn't have a proper job."

"No, I think sitting around on the sidelines of a Quidditch pitch polishing broomsticks and watching matches isn't any sort of a job at all!"

"That's what Dad says." Pandora said, causing Remus to sigh heavily again. "He says if she doesn't get herself a proper job and start contributing to the running of the house, so help him he'll pack her off to Uncle Charlie in Romania and get her to do some proper hard work. Immy says he won't be saying that when she's the Holyhead Harpies' star chaser and stinking rich! He told her if she was going to get offered a spot on the team they'd have snatched her up straight out of Hogwarts and she'd do well to forget the notion of Quidditch stardom and get some galleons in her vault instead."

"Here, here." Dora muttered, leaning back in her chair and allowing her eyes to drift closed. "Galleons don't grow on trees, Pan. And don't you forget it."

Despite his earlier defence of his eldest grandchild's behaviour, Remus murmured incoherent agreement and Pandora felt inclined to explain:

"She's not an idiot, Nana, Imogen knows about all of that. It's just...well..."

"She wants to impress that daft boy of hers."

"He's not really that daft, Nana..."

"I'm sure he isn't, Lala." Remus agreed, smiling faintly. "Your Nana just has a habit of being appallingly judgemental when the fancy takes her."

"Because he didn't pass first year Auror training?" Pandora guessed, eying her grandmother rather accusingly. "Is that why you don't like him, Nana?"

"Don't be silly, love." Dora murmured, yawning widely, before adding: "Shut up, Remus."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were going to, though." Opening her eyes, the former Deputy Head of Aurors fixed her youngest granddaughter with a firm look as she insisted: "I barely know him, but from what I hear Jamie Macmillan is a decent young man and if Immy likes him I'm sure I'd utterly adore him given half the chance. Now be an angel, won't you Sweetheart, and fetch my wand for me, I left it in the kitchen."

Pandora obediently slipped back out of her chair and made for the kitchen. She wondered just how right Remus was about Nana Dora, how much her opinion of Imogen's boyfriend had been affected by his failure to pass the first year of Auror training.

Nana Dora always held and maintained strong opinions about anything, everything and everyone. She was, as Remus said, something of a battleaxe and yet Pandora sometimes wondered if she had always been that way. Being judgemental by nature was a trait that leant itself to a distinctly closed mind, and yet Nana Dora had married a werewolf, welcomed muggles whole-heartedly into the family and, from what Pandora could tell, had barely blinked an eyelid when informed of the shameful news that her grandchild was a Squib. Nana Dora herself was, even these days, a decidedly unconventional character and had a habit of reminding her grandchildren: _It takes all sorts to make a world, you know_.

Pandora then supposed it had more to do with hard work and sheer grit; that Nana Dora was more inclined to judge a person in that sense and consequently that was why she didn't think much of Imogen's choice of boyfriend, or her choice of job. She wondered if she herself would turn out to be something of a disappointment in that respect, too.

Because when it came to working hard at school Pandora Lupin didn't always bother. She knew of course that her GSCEs were very, very important, partly out of common sense and partly because her mother reminded her of this fact on what seemed like an almost daily basis. But she found the whole process of going to school rather depressing. She never felt as if she quite fitted in with the other children, just like she didn't always feel she fitted in with her magical relations, either. She was stuck somewhere in the middle, trapped, and the notion that passing some more exams was just another step on in this constant limbo that was her life was a miserable one. Sometimes she felt as if she wanted to give up on everything, run away and make up her own rules, her own path she could fit in to perfectly. But even that would be awfully lonely.

As if her lack of ambition wasn't enough to make her a disappointment to her grandmother, Pandora mused as she shuffled into the kitchen and cast her eyes searchingly around in search of Dora's elusive wand, her choice of boyfriend would no doubt be massively disappointing too, should she ever get one.

Because she was certain that no half-decent boy would want her.

Having inherited not so much as a smidgen of magic from the Lupin gene pool, Pandora had instead been graced with some other physical attributes instead, more from Dora than anybody else. She had her grandmother's straight, mousey brown hair, rather pale skin, dark eyes and distinct lack of height.

Having not inherited Dora's ability to alter her appearance, Pandora hated the way she looked.

"I'm ugly." she'd inform her mother Carrie every once in a while, and the Lupin family's resident muggle would naturally respond:

"You're beautiful, love. You look like Nana Dora did, when she was young."

Pandora thought this was a downright lie, and she would tell her mother so.

"Nana Dora never looked this ugly." she'd complain dismally. "She always morphed herself to look much nicer."

"Are you calling your grandmother naturally ugly?" her mother would chuckle, as if it were not a serious talk at all. "I'll tell her that, shall I?"

It wasn't that Pandora honestly thought herself the most ugly girl in the world. It was more that she thought herself dreadfully plain, especially next to her sister Imogen who, having taken all the magical genes from one side of the family, looked a whole lot more like her muggle mother. Pandora was forever envious of Imogen's long, wavy chestnut hair, her rosy cheeks and warm brown eyes.

"You have the most wonderful eyes," Carrie would tell her once it had become apparent that her complaining was very serious indeed. "You ask your grandad about eyes like that, you'll see!"

"You've got your dad's eyes." Remus would tell her when Pandora did go to ask him about them. "And he got them from your nana. And you know, Lala, it doesn't matter how Nana Dora morphs, ever since I first set eyes upon her she's always had those eyes. And it never matters what colour hair she chooses or what she is wearing, that's what I think of first when I think of her. Her eyes."

"Are they pretty?" Pandora would ask rather disbelievingly, and the werewolf would assure her:

"They're utterly stunning."

Still, stunning eyes and not much else didn't seem to Pandora to be that much good luck. In fact in the grand scheme of things she thought herself one of the unluckiest people she knew. And that in itself would probably make her an abysmal failure, too. She was just that unlucky.

Nobody liked being a disappointment to their family. But Pandora had simply been born that way.

She retrieved the wand from it's hiding place behind the kettle, and stood for a moment turning it around in her hands, running a finger across the smooth wooden surface before grasping hold of it by the handle. When she had been younger she had once gotten into dreadful trouble with her father for taking this very object and running around her grandparents' garden, waving it around and pointing it at unsuspecting birds and plant life. She'd been given the Magic Wands Are Not Toys, Pandora speech, which these days seemed laughable because magic wands might just as well be toys for all the use they were to her.

Pandora glared down at the slim shaft of wood and for a moment imagined snapping it in half. Then she promptly winced and reminded herself not to be so bitter.

It was difficult, not being bitter about being born a Squib. Everybody was terribly sympathetic towards her about it, but at the same time they didn't seem to quite grasp how difficult a situation she was in. Indeed they didn't seem to make much of a distinction between being a Squib and being a muggle, which was probably thanks to the fact that Carrie was a muggle and had found herself a place within the Wizarding World successfully enough. And if Carrie could do it, why not Pandora too?

But Squibs and muggles were not the same. Pandora was not like her mother. Her mother had been born a muggle, just as her parents had expected. But nobody had expected a Squib in the family, nobody expected this oddity who never quite fitted in...

It was this comparison to her mother that made Pandora feel yet more bitter, because despite coming from a family of werewolves, metamorphmagi, muggles and Merlin knew what else, all of whom were individualistic and far from the norm, they all seemed compelled to group and normalise Pandora by labelling her as being just like Carrie. Pandora didn't want to be grouped, she didn't want to be labelled, assumed to be precisely what the rest of the family expected. She just wanted to be Pandora.

Even when she wasn't entirely sure exactly who Pandora was.

She returned to the sitting room to find the Daily Prophet had switched hands in her absence.

"I've never heard of anything of the sort." Nana Dora was telling her husband thoughtfully as she squinted down at one article or another. "What a brilliant idea! Why hasn't anybody thought of it before?"

"I don't know," Remus said as Pandora silently presented the wand to her grandmother, and the witch set the newspaper down upon her lap in order to accept the wand with a bright smile.

"You _are_ an angel, Sweetheart!" she exclaimed, before leaning forward to wave the wand vaguely around above the now luke-warm mugs of tea, causing fresh steam to begin to rise from the suddenly hot liquid.

"I don't suppose people give that sort of thing enough thought, do they?" Remus went on as he leant slowly forward to retrieve his mug, only for Pandora to retrieve it for him, pressing it into his hand. "Of course at first everybody cared about the pure bloods, and now these days after the War we're all obsessed with muggle-borns and how we treat them..."

"These days after the War?" Nana Dora chuckled, shooting him a raised eyebrow. "You make it sound like Voldemort was only defeated yesterday, love!"

"I like to think it wasn't that long ago."

"It's been four and a half decades, Remus."

"I know, but that makes me feel appallingly old."

"You _are_ appallingly old. Isn't he, Pan love?"

"Dumbledore lived to be a hundred and fifteen. I think by comparison that makes me a spring chicken."

Nana Dora puffed her cheeks in reluctant defeat, before taking a sip of tea and changing the subject.

"Come and take a look at this, Pan." she said, jabbing a finger at the newspaper upon her lap. "What d'you reckon? Sounds great if you ask me..."

Pandora shuffled back over to peer down at the paper, and found herself faced with an advertisement crammed into one corner of the page, dwarfed by a photograph of an array of distinctly bored looking Wizengamot officials who were at that year's Order of Merlin awards ceremony.

_Society for the Enrichment and Wellbeing of Squibs – S.E.W.S the Seams Into Your Bright Future!_

_Support, Activities, Social Events and Opportunities For Squibs of All Ages_

Pandora's nose wrinkled as she muttered:

"I think it sounds stupid."

"What's stupid about it?" Nana Dora asked, and Pandora folded her arms somewhat moodily across her chest.

"It's like...like counselling for freaks or something..."

"Don't say that, love..."

"And anyway, I don't see why Squibs need a...a society to...to make them feel included! Having one just makes it worse..."

"People set up all manner of groups and societies for different people, Lala. It's not as if this is the only one..."

"I think it's all stupid, separating people, grouping them! How are you meant to find a way to fit in with everybody else if you just...let yourself get sorted and stick with whatever label you get given?!"

"You'll be sorted into groups your entire life, Pan. We all are, that's just how society works. There's no point being bitter about it. Make the most of it, that's what I say."

Pandora offered her grandmother the worst look that she could muster.

"Is that what Grandad does, then? When society labels him a dark creature and decides to shun him for it? I bet he doesn't make much of that!"

Nana Dora suddenly seemed to become very preoccupied with rearranging the shawl about her shoulders, and Pandora suspected that should she care to look his way, which she certainly didn't have the nerve to, her grandfather was probably examining his slippers with extreme interest. There was a sizeable pause in which Pandora rather wished the floor would open up and swallow her for her big mouth, before Nana Dora looked back up at her and informed her:

"Well I'd rather Grandad made nothing of it than what the likes of Greyback and others did, wouldn't you?"

Pandora willed herself to open her mouth and mumble fierce agreement, but those apparently stunning eyes of her grandmother's were doing exactly that: the teenager felt incapable of doing or saying anything.

"Pan, love," the witch said at last, leaning back in her chair, "I know it's difficult...things being what they are...but you know by the time you get to be old like Grandad and me, when you've done a good amount of living...well you find yourself with a whole lot of things to be angry and bitter about..."

"Like what? What've you got to be bitter about?"

"Me personally?"

"Yes."

Nana Dora frowned deeply.

"Where to begin..." she muttered, only for Pandora to insist:

"From the beginning."

For a second the girl thought she might be scolded for being so abrupt, but instead the witch retrieved her cup of tea, fingers tapping thoughtfully against the rim of the cup.

"Right...well, for one thing I had a dull early childhood. Never got taken out much. Because of course when I was born Voldemort was still at large and even once he disappeared there were still Death Eaters being rounded up. Being so closely related to a bunch of them and having a small child, my parents were pretty paranoid. It was boring. I was always inside the house...I didn't mix with other children. And I resent that. I struggled fitting in by the time it came for me to go to Hogwarts. Those are meant to be the best years of your life and I never felt like it. And before I knew it they were gone forever and I felt deprived. Then of course I grew up, joined the Aurors, was dead proud of myself and thought people would respect me. They didn't. Nobody respected me when I was young, they just assumed I was stupid, that I didn't know what I was doing in life. Your grandad was the worst! Thought I was an air-head, thought I didn't know love when I saw it, thought I was too stupid to understand what sacrifice was...what had I been doing in the Order for the past few years?! Just because he was older than me he thought I was utterly naïve! It hurt. I might've loved him but I hated him for that! I could still hate him for it now, the pain it caused me! What else? The War. It ruined everything. Absolutely everything, my entire life was a mess and I spent a load of my time risking my life...watching a load of people dying and thinking it was going to be me next. What sort of a life was that, hm? A rubbish one, Pan, it was awful. What sort of a world is this, too, that it came to that? The world is an ugly place, I can tell you, it's scarred me and sometimes when I think about it I think I might just hate this world of ours, I really might! What about after the War, too? Well for starters I never made Head of the Auror Department. In fact Harry got promoted over me! What sort of a system is that? I'd been working for that for years, Pan, if that isn't something to be bitter about I don't know what is! I always fancied travelling, you know? During the War I used to think about what I'd do afterwards and I used to think I'd like to go travelling and see the world. Well I've not really seen very much of it. Because I've been relatively poor for most of my life. And I could've been well off, very comfortable if I hadn't married your grandad. And could I be bitter about it? Of course I could. I could resent your grandad for a whole load of things, I've missed out on a whole range of things thanks to deciding to marry him. I could resent that decision easily enough. I could be awfully bitter about it. And how come I've had a difficult time, after all I've done for society? How come it's not kinder to us? How is that fair? I retired...five, six years later than the average Auror, I get a shorter retirement than a load of other people I know! Why? Because your grandad hasn't earned a galleon in Merlin knows how long and if I didn't keep on working we'd be living in a shed at the bottom of your back garden, that's why! What've I done with my life? Work, work, work! Couldn't there be a bit more to it than that? And if there is, why couldn't I have it?! Why do so many rubbish things happen to me, hm? Why did I have to be away on a raid when my mum was taken ill?! Why didn't anybody think to find me faster so that I could've had an extra few hours with her before she died?! How come...how come I lost my dad the way I did all those years ago? How come I was clumsy enough to splinch myself one time and...and how come your mum got to survive...how come your Nanny Christine got to keep her daughter when I got to lose mine?"

The witch leant forward in her chair, eyes piercing again as she informed her granddaughter: "Because the world isn't fair, Pan. That's why. And what would become of me if I let myself feel hate and resentment and bitterness for all these rubbish things that happen to me in my life? What sort of...of bitter and twisted person would I become?! What would be the point in living at all if I couldn't put it all behind me and wake up with a smile on my face?" She reached to jab a finger at Pandora's chest, making the girl flinch a little. "You, Pandora Lupin, aren't even an adult yet! You've got an awful lot of living to do! You might think you've had enough bad luck already, but you'll have plenty of other things to resent fifty or so years from now! Don't you start being bitter so young! Because I'm telling you now you'll never make it in life, you really won't!"

Pandora felt rather as if she might just burst into tears. She probably looked it, too, because Nana Dora reached to straighten the cardigan about the girl's shoulders, smiling encouragingly as she insisted:

"Concentrate on what's good in life, Pan. All those things you've done that you can be proud of or the things you have that you can be grateful for! All those things you are going to achieve in the future, because you can! Because you will!"

"I don't...I can't imagine I'll ever..."

"You're going to achieve such wonderful things, Sweetheart. You might not see it now, but it's true."

Pandora watched disbelievingly as her grandmother eased herself up out of the chair, before enveloping the girl in a firm hug.

"Trust me, Pan." the witch whispered into the Squib's ear, one hand smoothing Pandora's mousey hair. "I know these things."

"No you don't." Pandora whispered back, attempting to blink back tears. "You're not a Seer."

And the witch gave a soft chuckle and assured her:

"No, I'm a whole lot better than that, Sweetheart. I'm your grandmother."


	2. Up In Smoke

_Note: With such a large time jump we have a whole new cast of OCs to be dealing with! I shall do my best to be clear about who is who as I go along, but if anybody gets confused, feel free to PM me and I shall make some sense of it all!_

_I'm sorry for the pathetic length of this chapter. But it is more of an introduction to various characters and it seemed like a nice place to end!_

_Cousin Robin's mishap in this chapter is in actual fact precisely what happened to my brother when he was about six! :-)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**2: Up In Smoke**

Pandora arrived home that evening to find her elder sister lying sprawled upon the sofa in the sitting room, nose buried in Quidditch magazine.

"Hey Pan." the twenty-one year old witch mumbled without looking round as she turned a page of the well-thumbed magazine.

"What're you reading?" Pandora asked as she dusted the soot from her jeans.

"There's a new Comet broom coming out next month." Imogen announced, tossing the magazine aside in disinterest.

"Is it any good?" Pandora asked her, feigning interest and frowning when her dusting only seemed to smear the soot over her knees.

"Mm...nothing special." Imogen mumbled glumly, only to suggest: "Try not to get soot all over the place, won't you? Mum's just swept the floor."

"Have you heard from Jamie?" Pandora wondered, and from her sister's glum expression she was not at all surprised when Imogen sighed heavily and mumbled:

"Nope." Imogen shifted to bury her face in a cushion and as Pandora came to perch upon the arm of the sofa beside her, the eldest Lupin daughter asked: "Nana and Grandad alright, are they?"

"They're fine..." Pandora began, only for a voice from upstairs to call:

"IMOGEN?!"

"For Merlin's sake!" Imogen groaned aiming a half-hearted kick at nothing in particular. "She's been going on at me all bloody afternoon since she got home...YES, MUM?!"

"I've run you bath!" their mother's voice announced expectantly, and Imogen sighed heavily, throwing the cushion she was holding to the floor.

"I don't need a bath, Mum!" she cried, reaching to tug at a few stray strands of wavy chestnut hair in frustration. "I've already said...!"

There came the sound of swift footsteps on the stairs and within the blink of an eye Carrie Lupin appeared in the doorway, her hands upon her hips.

"And I've already said, Im, you can't possibly go round to Uncle Timothy's looking like that!" the muggle insisted, casting her daughter's attire a distinctly unimpressed look.

As Pandora eyed Imogen's jeans and jumper with an uncomprehending frown, Imogen's face contorted in frustration as she informed her mother:

"I don't want to go to Uncle Timothy's, Mum!"

"It's your cousin's birthday!" Carrie snapped impatiently. "Now stop moping and get up those stairs! I've had enough, Imogen, you've been sat on that sofa all afternoon! You've not lifted a finger! The least you can do is have a bath, put on some clean clothes and go and wish Robin a happy birthday!"

As Imogen slowly consented to dragging herself up onto her feet, muttering irritably under her breath, Carrie's gaze came to rest upon her younger daughter and she insisted:

"And you, Pan! Go and get changed, you're covered in soot! We've not got long..."

"Dad isn't even home yet, Mum." Pandora pointed out, but no sooner had she finished her sentence the fireplace had roared into life, and a burst of emerald flames announced her father's arrival home from work.

Dressed in the scarlet robes of the Ministry's Auror Department, his ruffled hair today a dark shade of brown, Teddy Lupin stumbled wearily out of the fireplace.

"There you are!" Carrie said, hurrying forward to press a kiss to his cheek. "You're late, Ted! I was getting worried..."

"Sorry, darling." Teddy mumbled through a wide yawn.

"How was the raid?" his wife asked, leaning back to get a better look at him, and as she too peered over at him Pandora winced along with her mother at the sight of a large purple bruise blossoming upon his forehead.  
"I need a lie down." the Auror confessed, reaching to rake a tired hand through his hair, only to frown deeply when his wife regretfully informed him:

"It's your nephew's birthday dinner in under an hour, Ted."

"My nephew? Which...which one?"

"You've only got one nephew, Dad." Imogen pointed out from where she stood in the sitting room doorway, leaning up against the doorframe. "Jackson doesn't count!" the young witch's face suddenly contorted in horror as she found herself wondering: "Oh Merlin, he's not going to be there too, is he?!"

Jackson Bryant-Winters, Uncle Timothy's thirty year old stepson, was without a doubt both Pandora and Imogen's least favourite relative, so much so that they liked to pretend that he was in actual fact not a relative at all. Unlike his far younger half-brother Robin Winters, Jackson, who had spent a large proportion of the Lupin girls' younger days away working in various nightclubs in Ibiza, was a loud and frequently obnoxious presence at family gatherings.

"Don't talk like that, Im." Carrie said rather half-heartedly from Teddy's side. "Jackson _is_ part of the family."

"Well yes," Imogen agreed, nose wrinkling at the notion, reaching to slap a hand down upon Pandora's shoulder. "But at Auntie Natalie's birthday party last month he walked up to your darling sixteen year old daughter here and asked: _So what size bra is that you're wearing there, Sweet Cheeks?_!"

"He what?!" Carrie exclaimed as Teddy's expression grew instantly disgusted, and as Pandora's cheeks reddened Imogen gave a rather satisfied huff and suggested:

"I'll get in that bath, shall I?"

"That bloody boy..." Teddy muttered as soon as his eldest child had turned to head for the stairs.

"He's thirty, love." Carrie pointed out as she reached to straighten his crumpled robes.

"Yes, well he doesn't act like it." the Auror retorted irritably. "How does your brother put up with him?! I always knew Timothy was a saint..."

"Go and have a lie down and I'll find you some fresh clothes." Carrie suggested, leaning to press a kiss to his cheek. Once she had given her husband a firm push towards the door, the muggle told her youngest: "Hurry and get changed, Pan. And give Imogen a shout whilst you're up there, tell her I need her to wrap Robin's present. I don't have time myself, I've not finished icing that cake yet!"

Pandora trailed off upstairs and into her bedroom to eye the contents of her wardrobe in brief deliberation, before reaching to extract a skirt and striped jumper from the rail. Depositing them on her bed she went to ransack the chest of drawers in search of a pair of tights. By the time she had found a pair that were not littered with snags and holes, had gotten changed and dragged a brush through her hair she could hear the beginnings of an argument brewing out on the landing.

"...well I don't see why not!" Imogen's voice was complaining loudly from somewhere in her room opposite.

"You've got your own money, Im!"

"Exactly, Dad! I'd pay you back!"

"Absolutely not!"

"Why not?!"

"Because! I've got better things to spend my money on! Like bills! The food on your plate! Your sister's education!"

"But I'll pay you back! When I get paid..."

"It's a waste of money, Imogen!"

"No it isn't! It's cool, I've wanted to do it for ages!"

"Merlin help me..."

"I'll ask Nana Dora, then. She'll lend it to me..."

"Absolutely not!"

"I bet she got her nose pierced when she was my age."

"When your grandmother was your age, Imogen Lupin, she was much too busy working her way through Auror Training and living _independently_ off the stray knuts in her pocket to waste her time and money on ridiculous things like body piercings!"

"No she wasn't, Dad. I've seen photographs!"

"I'll burn those bloody photographs..." Pandora heard her father mutter as she dared to peer around her bedroom door to find him stood upon the landing, fumbling the with the buttons on a freshly pressed shirt. As Carrie appeared out of their bedroom door behind him, unscrewing a small white tub in her hands as she went, the wizard turned to tell her: "I could hex her, you know!"

"Imogen?" Carrie sniggered, grinning broadly. "I think we all could, Sweetheart. Even me, and that would be quite a feat...stay still..."

As she reached to smear a generous layer of Bruise Away across his forehead, Teddy gave a small shudder.

"Not Imogen, I mean Mum." he muttered wearily. "She sets an utterly appalling example!"

"Yes well love," Carrie chuckled as she replaced the lid of the Bruise Away and made a beeline to rinse her fingers in the bathroom sink. "I very much doubt that whilst she was thinking of getting her nose pierced your eighteen year old mother was giving a whole lot of thought to what sort of an example it would set for her grandchildren several decades later..."

"She got rid of it within a month, anyway. Decided it would make a bad impression when she got interviewed by the Head of Aurors. Kept the pink hair, mind you. How her minds works I have no idea..."

"Let's hope Imogen's the same, then." Carrie suggested. "It's probably just a phase she's going through...Pan, love?! Have you seen my perfume?!"

Glancing rather guiltily over her shoulder at bottle upon her bedside table, Pandora pursed her lips together in consideration for a long moment before deciding:

"I think Immy had it, Mum!"

"IMOGEN..."

Cousin Robin's fifteenth birthday dinner was far more enjoyable than Pandora had expected. Firstly because she had beaten Imogen in the race to take the one seat at the dining table that wasn't next to Jackson, secondly because Auntie Natalie had cooked a very impressive roast dinner, and thirdly because she had left plenty of room for a slice of the impressive looking chocolate birthday cake that Carrie had set down upon the table after dinner had been eaten. The entire family had sung Happy Birthday To You at the top of their lungs with great enthusiasm, Uncle Thomas had snapped a few photographs...

...and quite suddenly the entire evening went up in smoke.

Quite literally.

Because as the birthday boy had leant over his birthday cake to blow out the candles, pausing to push the glasses up his nose, he suddenly leant a little too far and with shrieks of horror from his mother and aunt stood beside him, Robin's t shirt brushed against the candles and within the blink of an eye the material had caught on fire.

"DON'T MOVE!" Uncle Timothy demanded as sheer panic dawned upon his son's face. As chaos began to ensue up and down the table, Jackson let out a shout of laughter and Imogen was about to cast a furious glance over at him when out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Imogen snatching something out of her pocket...

And all of a sudden there came a sudden spray of water across the table and the flames were smothered with a damp hiss.

"Goodness!" Carrie exclaimed as Natalie reached to fling an arm around Robin's shoulders as he slumped back in his seat with a huge sigh of relief. "Are you alright, Robin?"

"That was quick thinking!" Uncle Thomas said, still clutching hold of his camera. "Where did that come from?!"

Pandora's watched Imogen's mouth fall open a little uncertainly as she shoved the magic wand discreetly back into her pocket, and as the young witch _umm_ed uncertainly Pandora saw her father hastily reach to pour his glass of orange juice into the remnants of his dinner, before holding the empty glass aloft and announcing:

"Over here!"

"Bloody hell!" Thomas laughed, "Good shot, Ted!"

"Did you get a picture of the look on Robin's face, Thom?" Jackson wondered with a smirk, and his mother instantly snapped:

"It's not funny, Jackson!" To Robin, who had remained entirely mute in shock, she asked: "Are you alright, love? God...get that t shirt off...look at the state of the cake! Never mind, eh?"

"Tell you what," Carrie suggested as Robin reached somewhat numbly to pull the scorched t shirt over his head, Natalie bustling off to find him a fresh one, "We'll make a start on clearing the table, and Uncle Ted can pop out and buy a new one! The garage over the road will still be open."

"Oh really, you don't have to do that..." Natalie called over her shoulder, only for Teddy to rise swiftly to his feet and insist:

"It'll only take me a minute...come on, Im! You can help me pick."

There was something about her father's tone that made Pandora suspect that this was no mere suggestion and more of an order, and she thought it quite wise that Imogen wordlessly got to her feet and trailed after him into the hallway.

"Purse is in my bag, love." Carrie called after them, and a moment later when she set about carrying a few empty plates out into the kitchen, Pandora caught sight of Teddy rifling searchingly through his wife's handbag, muttering somewhat furiously to Imogen as she looked on, her expression bleak.

"...entire room full of muggles, Im!"

"So what...you'd rather I just sat there and let poor Robin get burnt alive?"

"No, but...! The Ministry takes these things very seriously!"

"I don't care, Dad."

"Well you should! You can get into a whole lot of trouble..."

"Merlin, I can't do anything right, can I?" Imogen muttered as she shrugged her coat onto her shoulders with a huff, and with that she stomped over the open the front door and lead the way outside.

Pandora did suppose that Imogen had a point. The eldest Lupin daughter always appeared to be doing something or other that her parents did not entirely approve of. And yet it never seemed to really matter, as far as Pandora could tell.

Because Imogen was the Golden Child. She was clever, witty and beautiful. She had graduated from Hogwarts with good grades despite having seemingly spent more time out on the Quidditch pitch than in the library studying. The year that she had been made captain of her house Quidditch team had seen Hufflepuff win the Quidditch Cup for the first time in over a decade, she exuded boundless confidence that her sister found somewhat dazzling and it appeared to Pandora that everybody who ever met Imogen seemed to think her somewhat wacky, yet utterly charming.

Pandora was jealous.

She had been jealous of Imogen for as long as she could remember. She didn't seem to be able to help it...

It was difficult, being so jealous of your own sister. Especially when you loved her as dearly as Pandora loved Imogen. Loving her only made Pandora's jealousy make the squib feel utterly wretched.

After all, it wasn't Imogen's fault that she was so wonderful. And it wasn't as if she seemed particularly aware of her brilliance, either. She didn't go out of her way to make Pandora feel so inferior, indeed she made an effort to do the exact opposite. She let Pandora tag along on outings with her friends and the two of them often went out together as a pair. They liked to visit the local muggle cinema together, or go for picnics in the summer. They shared books, shared their music collections, borrowed one another's make up and jewellery. Some evenings they would sit upon Imogen's bed and chat about all those perfectly mundane things that sisters talked about; the boys Pandora liked at school, what dress Imogen might wear when she went out for dinner with Jamie the next day,...

Normal things. Things that had nothing to do with magic, nothing to do with being different. Boys were boys, not wizards or muggles. Clothes were clothes, not cloaks or jackets...

Indeed it was both a relief and a nightmare, having a sister like Imogen.

It was quite shameful of her, Pandora supposed as she set about helping with the washing up, that whilst Imogen was always so good to her, Pandora often gave very little thought about landing her older sister in trouble. Like blaming Imogen when their mother's perfume disappeared from her dressing table, like telling tales to their grandparents about whatever it was Imogen was doing that they Pandora knew they would surely disapprove of...

But sometimes Pandora didn't think she could help being so unkind. Sometimes it just happened, even though she didn't mean it to. Just like being jealous.

Because Imogen didn't much care about getting into trouble. She took anything disapproving her relatives said to her on the chin, nothing ever seemed to upset her or get her down. She was notoriously thick skinned.

Unlike Pandora, who could not bear confrontation or the disapproval of her family in the slightest. Imogen was a convenient shield. An easy target to shift the attention on to so that Pandora could remain untouched...

But Pandora was soon going to discover that hiding behind her sister was suddenly going to cease to be a viable option. The young Squib's life was about to be thrown into such a mass of confrontation and trouble that not even a sister as tenacious and strong willed as Imogen could keep her from harm.

And at long last Pandora Lupin was going to have to learn to stand up and be counted.


	3. First Day

_Note: Rated M for strong language! _

_There is lots of boring chit chat, I'm afraid! But we have a whole raft of OCs to introduce! It's also a bit of an update on where things stand with various people._

**3: First Day**

All too soon Pandora found herself waking up to the first day of the new school year, and not even the thought that it was her last year at high school could bring the squib much cheer.

She reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown and making a beeline for the bathroom, where she spent a while washing her face in the sink, in between scowling at her reflection in the mirror. She returned to her room a short while later to find that her mother had left her freshly pressed school uniform hanging up upon the wardrobe's door handle. As she pulled on the school blouse and set about tying the maroon and black striped tie around her neck, she could recall some years previously dropping in on Uncle Timothy with her mother, fresh back from buying new school uniform in town to find Jackson sprawled upon the sofa in Uncle Timothy's sitting room.

"God, look at that!" Jackson had chuckled when Pandora had consented to revealing the contents of her shopping bag to him. "Oakhurst Manor, is it? Posh girl, are you?"

"Mum and Uncle Timothy went to Oakhurst Manor too." Pandora had informed him, as if this were some sort of justification, especially since she could not recall ever being referred to as posh before.

Jackson had smirked.

"I was at Eddington High when I was your age...my mum tried to move me over here to Moorbrook Hill School when we moved in with your uncle, but there weren't no spaces. You should count yourself lucky, going to a fancy school like Oakhurst! The kids at Eddington High would eat a pretty little rich girl like you for breakfast!"

Pandora supposed this was probably true.

But that didn't make her feel particularly grateful that morning as she wandered reluctantly downstairs to get some breakfast.

Her prospects for the day grew abruptly worse before she had even finished her first slice of jam on toast.

"We had an owl yesterday, Pan." Teddy informed his daughter as he discarded that morning's copy of the Daily Prophet in favour of his cup of tea. Carrie abandoned her own breakfast to go and bellow up the stairs in an attempt to coax a still sleeping Imogen out of bed as Pandora graced her father with an inquiring glance.

"Oh?"

"Yes, Nana wrote to tell us about something Grandad spotted in the Prophet the other day. An advert? She says she showed it to you?"

Pandora felt her heart sink as she heard her mother give a loud sigh of exasperation from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh...that..." the squib mumbled, taking a half-hearted bite of her toast.

"I think it sounds like a brilliant idea." Teddy said, apparently intent on ignoring her lack of enthusiasm. "It would be good for you to meet some people who are in the same circumstances as you are, wouldn't it?"

"Dad..."

"You might make some new friends. That's always nice, isn't it?"

Pandora failed to keep the scowl from crinkling her forehead.

"You make it sound like I'm definitely going, Dad. I don't want..."

"There's a meeting this evening, love!" Carrie called as she made her way back through the little kitchen and into the dining room. "Dad sent an owl to the address on the advert, asking a thing or two. They wrote to say you'd be welcome to go along. They seem very nice, don't they Ted?"

"Yes, they do." Teddy agreed as Carrie dropped down into her seat beside him, and at the look their daughter offered her the muggle pointed out:

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, Pan. But Dad and I think if you made an effort just this once...see what it's like, you never know you might really enjoy yourself! Dad can apparate you over there, it's in...London...?"

"Yes, it's in London. Not far from Diagon Alley. And if I'm not home from work in time I'm sure Immy could apparate you over there...she's got a day off again, hasn't she? The Quidditch stadium is closed for maintenance until tomorrow, she said..."

"You could go for just half an hour! Then Dad or Immy can come and get you! How does that sound?"

"Doesn't sound too bad, does it Pan? You could give it a go, couldn't you?"

Finding herself somewhat backed into a corner as both parents smiled brightly at her, Pandora supposed there was only really one answer that she could give.

"I suppose I could..." she mumbled, and her father abandoned his empty mug down upon the table in triumph, declaring:

"Excellent!"

"You make sure you're not late home again, then!" Carrie told him as he turned to slip an arm around her shoulders, drawing her towards him so that he could press a brief kiss to her lips.

"I won't be. There aren't any raids today, Deputy says we're to clear the backlog of paperwork else she'll be demanding we all do overtime! Not that she's done any paperwork herself for the past Merlin knows how long..." As he rose to his feet, straightening his scarlet Auror robes, Carrie found herself wondering aloud:

"How in Merlin's name did Jasmine Wickes get promoted as your mum's replacement with a track record like hers?"

"She has a better arrest record than the rest of us put together. I suspect Harry fought tooth and nail for her to get promoted."

"But she drives him up the wall..."

"Maybe, but she's comforting to him. She's comforting to all of us, she keeps the status quo in tact...follows the example Mum set, doesn't shake things up or try to make big grand changes. Everybody was perfectly happy when Mum was the Deputy, and Jasmine always said she wanted to keep it that way. Sometimes it's like Mum didn't even retire. Somebody tells me the Deputy is busy drilling the new cadets down in the gymnasium and as I'm walking down there I hear this voice barking instructions...and for a second I feel shocked when I walk in and find it's Jasmine stood there in the Deputy's robes and not Mum..."

"Jasmine'll be eligible for retirement herself soon enough."

"I know. And she'll take it as early as she can, too. What with Isaac's health being so poor. I'm dreading it, you know. I'm dreading the day Jasmine retires..."

"Who's going to be Deputy after that?"

"Merlin knows...Harry could throw the towel in too around the same time...he's around Jasmine's age after all."

"Maybe they'll do it together." Pandora suggested, and her father's face contorted in a rather pained expression at the notion as he muttered:

"They couldn't possibly think of doing that...there would be chaos."

"Who's in line after them? If Ron goes too?"

As he reached to snatch up his bag from where he had left it by the toaster, Teddy slung the satchel over his shoulder and mused:

"Well I suppose next senior to them is Xander Pikket. I'd bet money he's the next Head of Department. The next Deputy...that'll probably be a toss up between Hale Grover and Anna Sprout."

"Not Burton Hayes?"

"Well I suppose it's possible...if the poor man ever makes it out of St. Mungo's. They've had him in there for over two months, you know." Teddy's expression was momentarily bleak before he strode over to lean to drop a kiss atop his youngest daughter's head, brightening as he said: "Have a good day at school, Pan."

"Have a good day at work, Dad." the squib mumbled through a mouthful of toast.

"Don't be late, will you?"

"I won't, Dad."

"Good. None of all that dawdling like we had last year! It's your GCSE exams this coming summer, we can't have any of that..."

"No, Dad."

"And no buying chips on the way home, either! We've got perfectly decent food in the fridge!"

Pandora rolled her eyes, but he had already disappeared into the living room in search of the pot of floo powder. She finished her breakfast in silence as Carrie retrieved the abandoned Daily Prophet.

"I've left your lunch by the fridge." Carrie informed her some while later when Pandora had cleared her plate and rose to her feet.

"What is it?"

"Sandwiches. Cheese and pickle. There's a banana in there too."

"I don't like bananas, Mum."

"Well Dad took the last of the apples and despite what you think you can't live off chips and chocolate, Pan. Eat some fresh fruit, it's good for you."

Pandora puffed her cheeks as she wandered into the kitchen to snatch up the lunchbox. Quite frankly she could not be bothered to argue, so she consented to calling:

"Thanks, Mum!"

"Give Immy a shout on your way out, won't you love? I want a word for her before I leave for work!"

As she went to snatch up her school bag from beside the front door, shoving the lunchbox inside, Pandora consented to bellowing up the stairs:  
"IMOGEN?! QUICK, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!"

"Pan!" Carrie scolded from back in the dining room as there came the distinct sound of movement from upstairs, and Pandora called back:

"What? It's working!"

"WHAT?!" Imogen's voice shrieked half a second later as Pandora heard the bedroom door being flung back on it's hinges.

"Only kidding! But since you're up, Mum wants a chat!"

There came the sound of stomping footsteps and Imogen appeared atop the stairs, pulling on her dressing gown.

"Hilarious!" the young witch snapped, shooting her sister an utterly poisonous look.

Pandora reached to pull open the front door with a snigger.

"See you later, Im." she called as Imogen shuffled off towards the dining room, and in return Imogen suggested:

"Sod off before you miss registration! Have a nice day, say hello to the girls for me."

The house that Teddy and Carrie Lupin had purchased when Pandora had been five years old, the family of four having previously been crammed into a cramped and somewhat rundown flat, was in a small cul de sac of semi-detached houses surrounding a green. It was just a short walk from Oakhurst Manor School and all too soon Pandora found herself approaching the school gates. Numerous children dressed in smart maroon blazers and too-large black school jumpers trooped through the black painted gates, appearances a tell tale sign of a brand new school year. Shoes had been polished, trouser hems had been sewn, skirt pleats had been ironed and hole-ridden jumpers had been replaced with oversized new ones in the hope that they might grow to fit them.

Pandora slowed her pace as she began to cast her eyes around for a familiar face, and it did not take long for her to spot one. Squeezing past a couple of babbling Year Nine girls, Pandora came to a stop beside the girl in question and greeted:

"Hey, Libs!"

Pressed up against the wall beside the gates, hugging an open rucksack to her chest as she watched the other children pass, Libby Jade Jenkins did not bother to look round as she murmured:

"Hi Pan."

"Any sign of Claire yet?" Pandora wondered, and Libby adjusted her grip upon her bag as she said:

"Nope."

Libby, who had been Pandora's friend ever since their first day in Year Seven, was a short, slightly tubby girl with short curly straw coloured hair and watery blue eyes. By far the brightest of Pandora's school friends, Libby had gained entrance to Oakhurst Manor via a non-fee paying scholarship and forever had her nose buried in books.

"What's wrong with your bag?" Pandora asked, eying the object that Libby was clutching to her chest, and the girl gave a sigh and explained:

"The zip broke at the end of last term. Here...hold it a minute."

Pandora accepted the bag with a slight wince at the weight, no doubt a result of the countless books that Libby kept on her at all times. As Libby set about tugging somewhat hopelessly at the hem of her frayed jumper that was several sizes too small, trying to make it lye flat, Pandora asked:

"How're things?" She strongly suspected that things were not good, for Libby was usually cheerful at the prospect of a new school term, and unsurprised when Libby muttered:

"He's gone."

"What...Uncle Kevin?"

"He's not my bloody uncle! He's just some weirdo, he's nothing to do with me!"

"Sorry...Kevin, then. Kevin's gone?"

"Yep."

"Since when?"

"Last week."

"Oh dear...are you going to be alright?"

Libby gave up fiddling with her jumper and reached to snatch back her school bag, hugging it tightly to her chest.

"She was swigging from a bottle of vodka when I left this morning." she informed Pandora frankly, and Pandora supposed that probably meant no, she wasn't going to be alright in the slightest.

Libby lived with her mother Frankie in a flat on the estate opposite Eddington High School, and when Pandora had first met them Frankie had worked as a cleaner at the school in a somewhat vain attempt to make ends meet. The following summer Libby had announced at a sleepover in Pandora's bedroom that her mother had a boyfriend named Kevin, and within a couple of weeks he had moved into the cramped little flat and Frankie began to insist that Libby refer to him as Uncle. Libby preferred not to refer to him at all, indeed she hated this sudden new addition to her family and made no attempts to hide her feelings. Within six months Frankie had stopped working all together, relying on benefits to pay the bills instead whilst she had Kevin spent long hours sat in front of the television in the flat, smoking cigarettes, drinking and fawning over one another. As time went on the couple would argue more frequently until the tensions would rise and boil over. Kevin would leave for days, weeks, sometimes months, Libby's mother would stop going to the shops, stop cooking dinner, lying pitifully upon the sofa, swigging drinks in between sending her daughter out to buy cigarettes. Eventually Kevin would return, there would be momentary cheer and excitement before the cycle started again.

"Did you have to call the police?" Pandora wondered dully, recalling the first time she had gone to stay the night at the flat, only to be awoken in the early hours by the sound of shouting voices and smashing glass. She and Libby had hid together under the bed in Libby's room until the police had arrived. When her parents had been awoken at one o'clock in the morning to find a policeman on their doorstep, their distinctly shaken daughter in tow, Pandora had soon been informed by her parents that under no circumstances was she ever to go round to stay at Libby's ever again. The older she got the less Libby bothered phoning the police, for the last thing she wanted was for Social Services to become involved and to find herself being whisked away into foster care.

"No, not this time." Libby mused, frowning a little, only to snigger a little as she recalled: "Bastard pissed off before she could throw the wine bottle at him!"

"How did it start?"

"Probably when I said: _I'm not going to call you Uncle just because you're shagging my mum_. He said I was a nasty little shit and went on a rant about how I don't do what I'm told...then she started shrieking: _Are you calling me a shit mother?!_ And that was it..._bang_!"

Pandora felt at a slight loss as to what to say, and felt somewhat relieved at that moment when a large highly polished BMW pulled up to the curb in front of them, the door was flung open and half a second later there came a high-pitched squeal as a voice cried:

"LIBS! PAN!"

Pandora watched as Claire Rosanna Harper launched herself out of the passenger seat, throwing the car door shut behind her before making a beeline for the two girls, shoving her way past the hordes of children heading inside the gates in an attempt to get to them.

"Brace yourself!" Libby muttered, and half a second later Claire had pounced upon them, throwing her arms around with with another excited squeal.

"Gosh!" the newest arrival gushed when she finally saw fit to release them a long moment later, pausing to wave briefly at a young boy who had also just emerged from the car. "It's like I haven't seen you in...forever!"

"I saw you last week. We had a picnic in the park." Libby pointed out as the much taller girl beamed down at her, giggling as she said:

"Well I know, but...you know!"

Libby's bemused expression suggested that no, she didn't.

"New car?" she said, nodding at the BMW as it drew away from the curb, and Claire's face went instantly pink.

"Oh it's...it's not ours, it's...you know...Mum's company car!"  
Pandora very nearly sighed at her stammering.

Claire, who had arrived at Oakhurst Manor at the beginning of Year Nine, lived just outside of town in a large renovated farm house with her parents and brothers; eleven year old Julian and seventeen year old Declan. Claire's father Eugene Harper was a highly respected surgeon, whilst her mother Vanessa worked for a local firm of architects. The Harper children, in stark contrast to Libby, were highly privileged; Declan played rugby and cricket, Julian enjoyed horse riding lessons and Claire spent her weekends at dance classes. Despite their upbringing, the Harper children were not particularly interested in material possessions, and upon it ever being pointed out to Claire that her family had such things she would, especially around Libby whose mother had never owned a bicycle let alone a car, become somewhat awkward and tongue-tied.

Libby, being a surprisingly well-grounded girl despite her circumstances, was entirely unabashed by the stark differences in their lives. Some people, she said, were rich and lucky, and some people were just poor and didn't have much luck at all. But all people were heading the same way in the end; everybody was going to grow up, get old and die. It didn't matter where they started, it just mattered where they ended up.

This had been pointed out to Claire on many occasions over the years, but she never quite seemed to take enough notice, and so Pandora felt inclined to change the subject.

"Julian's first day, isn't it?" the squib said, gazing over Claire's shoulder at the boy who was stood staring through the school gates, expression rather daunted.

"Oh, yes! Yes it is...JULIAN?! Julian, come over here!"

As Julian consented to shuffling over towards them, Claire announced:

"It's Declan's first day today, too! Over at Goodwin College, I mean!"

"I thought he was going to that other place...the one in Cornwall..." Pandora recalled, feeling a sudden sense of relief when Claire said:

"Oh, no! Mum and Dad did think of that for a while, but in the end they decided it was just too far away! Declan didn't want to live away from home yet!"

"Oh right." Pandora said, trying hard to sound casual, just in time for the school bell to ring shrilly, a warning that the late bell would ring in just ten minutes time.

Declan Harper was, as far as Pandora was concerned, the most brilliant and wonderful boy ever to grace the corridors of Oakhurst Manor School. She had liked him almost as soon as she had met him, and had been somewhat in love with him ever since her sixteenth birthday, when guitar enthusiast Declan had arrived at her party with his guitar slung over his shoulder and proceeded to sing the birthday girl's praises to the party guests. Literally.

Pandora had never had anybody sing to her before, except for her mother and grandparents at bedtime as a child. Nobody had ever written a song especially for her. And it hadn't really mattered that he'd sung a special song to Libby on her birthday in the middle of the school playground, either, or that most people who were friends with Declan got a song for their birthday. For those few minutes Pandora had felt as if she were the most important girl in the world as far as Declan was concerned. She had fallen for him almost instantly.

It had been bad enough that he was leaving Oakhurst at all, let alone Eddington entirely. It wasn't as if she ever expected him to notice her in quite the way that she did him, that would be downright silly, but just as long as he was around Pandora had found school just about bearable. It was a comfort to think that she would still get to see him from time to time at the Harpers' house or in the park. Such a comfort, in fact, that Pandora was impressed that she had managed to sound as casual about Claire's news as she had done.

As the three girl turned to wander through the school gates with Julian in tow, Claire babbling instructions to her little brother as if starting school was some sort of military operation, Libby wondered:

"Do you reckon we'll have Mr. Bryer for Chemistry again this year?"

"I hope so." Pandora said as they veered sideways towards the playground where the new Year Seven students were gathering. "I think he's good."

"He's rubbish." Libby complained with a huff. "He never sets us any homework!"

"Exactly!" Pandora said, shooting her friend a raised eyebrow that made Libby tut.

"Pandora Lupin! You promised, didn't you?!" Libby exclaimed as they paused to watch Julian stride off to join his classmates, shoulders hunching a bit when Claire shouted after him:  
"GO GET 'EM, JULIAN!"

"Claire for goodness sake, don't embarrass him!" Pandora scolded, only for Libby to reach to give her a firm shake by the shoulder.

"Never mind that!" the bookworm snapped. "You promised you were going to stop being so bloody lazy this year! What're your parents going to say when you...when you FAIL your GCSEs?!"

"Oh calm down, Libs!" Claire exclaimed as she turned to lead the way towards the steps leading up to the school's main entrance. "Pan isn't going to fail anything, she's not an idiot..."

"Exactly," Pandora agreed, "Just because I don't like being given homework that doesn't mean I'm being lazy! Nobody likes homework, Libby! It's not natural!"

"Libby likes homework." Claire pointed out with a snigger, and Pandora failed to suppress a sigh when Libby instantly informed the tall, dark haired girl in front of her:

"You know what I _really_ like, Claire? Achieving something! You won't be laughing when I'm being presented with my First Class Honours Degree from Oxford University and you're sitting around on...on your dad's bloody _yacht_ wondering what you've actually done with the past five years of your life!"

There was a long, thoughtful pause, Claire considered this scenario as they mounted the steps, before she finally pointed out:

"But my dad doesn't _own_ a yacht, Libs!"

The sound that escaped Libby's lips was an odd mixture of a groan and a number of swear words that Pandora wasn't entirely sure she had ever heard before. It was quite a relief to get inside, where the corridors were so loud with chatter that any further discussion was futile, and before long they had made their was to their form room, just in time for the start of the register.

Pandora's first day back was mundane and ordinary. She tried to make an effort to concentrate in class and spent lunch in a secluded corner of the school library, covertly eating her lunch and hoping not to be spotted by the librarian, whilst Libby scoured the shelves for yet more books to squeeze into the confides of her school bag, and Claire babbled mindlessly about organising a trip to the cinema. By the time the final bell rang and they had joined the flood of students heading back out of the school gates they were still debating which film to see, and Claire suggested they all discuss it over a bag of chips from the chippy down the road.

"I can't." Pandora grumbled, puffing her cheeks in exasperation. "Dad's declared a ban on chips."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Claire pointed out as they reached the gates, but Pandora shook her head.

"No...no, I should probably get home. Maybe I'll make a start on that Maths homework or something."

Claire's face contorted in incomprehension.

"It's not due until Friday, Pan." she pointed out, and Libby sighed and asked:

"What's your point?"

"Let's not start again." Pandora suggested wearily, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "Besides, don't you need to wait for Julian?"

"Oh god, yes!" Claire exclaimed, spinning round to look searching around for her sibling. "I'd forgotten about him..."

"What sort of a big sister are you?" Libby sniggered as she retrieved a stick of gum from her pocket, and Pandora set off through the gates, calling:

"See you tomorrow, then!"

She arrived home to have her nostrils assaulted by the almost overwhelming smell of ginger that made her want to sneeze. Abandoning her schoolbag by the door and kicking off her shoes, Pandora made her way towards the source of the smell, and arrived in the kitchen to find Imogen poised over a violently smoking cauldron, expression somewhat bemused.

"Is it supposed to be like this?" the young witch asked, reaching to snatch up the open book set down upon the counter beside her, and Pandora was about to open her mouth to admit that she didn't have a clue when a voice from the dining room next door asked:

"Do what, love?"

"Engulf the entire kitchen in smoke, Nana!" Imogen said, reaching to stifle a cough into the sleeve over her jumper, and Pandora turned to see her grandmother rise from a chair at the dining table before she shuffled into the kitchen, nose wrinkling at the smell.

"Alright, Sweetheart?" the former Auror asked Pan shooting the girl a smile as she passed, and with that she went to peer into the cauldron in deliberation before calmly deciding:

"No...no, Imogen that isn't right at all."

"Oh..." Imogen sighed, only to choke a little on the smoke.

"Im?"

"Yes Nana?"

"Get out of the kitchen." Dora instructed as she continued to stare down into the cauldron, causing Imogen to ask:

"What?"

"I said get out of the kitchen. Go on, put the book down!"

"But..."

"Do it _now_." Dora insisted as she finally took a step backwards, and Imogen demanded to know:

"Why?"

"Because this cauldron's about to explode." her grandmother explained, tone alarmingly casual.

Pandora's mouth dropped open in shock as Imogen instantly flung the book down upon the counter and made a rush for the door. As she pushed Pandora back out into the hallway Dora appeared behind them, reaching to slam the door shut after her. For half a second there was silence, and then...

_BANG!_

Pandora and Imogen jumped. For a long moment the trio simply stood in silence, before Imogen finally observed:

"Mum and Dad are going to kill me."

As she reached to open the door, poking her head around it to inspect the damage, Dora assured her:

"I very much doubt it, love. It'll be me who gets chased with the flaming pitchforks. I was supposed to be helping you."

"Why weren't you?" Pandora asked, and her grandmother gave a huff.

"Well she'll never brew a decent Ginger Oil Potion if she doesn't learn to do it by herself!"

"She was too busy ranting and raving about some silly article she's seen in Witch Weekly." Imogen muttered, and as she reached to fling the door open to reveal the chaos within, Dora asked:

"What's the point of having a granddaughter offer to brew you a potion when you are under the weather if you end up brewing it yourself?!"

"Maybe you should've let Grandad brew it." Imogen mused, only for Dora to round on her with wide eyes as she demanded to know:

"D'you think I have a death wish?!"

"Maybe, since you asked me."

As she reached to draw the wand from her pocket, striding into the room that appeared to be splattered with the sticky grey remains of the potion, accompanied by a large black burn mark upon the ceiling, Dora insisted:

"You're perfectly capable, Imogen! You've made perfectly well with me last month. You just weren't paying attention!"

"Are you ill, Nana?" Pandora asked doubtfully as she and Imogen shuffled into the room, and as she paused to look up at the damage to the ceiling, Dora said:

"Oh no, love. No...nothing like that." She raised her wand to point at the scorched mark, only for Imogen to suggest:

"Why don't you let me do it, Nana? It's my mess, after all."

"Would you?" Dora said, reaching to stifle a yawn into her hand. "I'm bone-tired." She turned to walk somewhat stiffly back into the dining room, and as Pandora followed her, watching her sink down onto a chair, the retired Auror told her granddaughter:

"Take my advice, Pan Sweetheart. Don't ever get old. It's dreadful, it really is!"

"Shall I make us a cup of tea?" Pandora suggested as Imogen set about attempting to vanish the remnants of the potion from the fridge door with her wand. "Is Grandad here too?"

"No, just me. Grandad's at home fixing the front garden gate, wind's had it half off it's hinges again. I could murder a cup of tea. I've not had a decent night's sleep in Merlin knows how long..."

"Why not?" Pandora asked, retreating back into the kitchen to see to the kettle, wincing when Imogen's latest spell only served to smear the potion yet further across the wall beside her.

"Because I'm appallingly old, Sweetheart." came the somewhat dull response, and Imogen supplied:

"She's done her back in again."

"Oh..." Pan breathed, and Imogen paused in her cleaning to call:

"You should put your feet up more, Nana!"

"Don't tell her that." Pandora hissed, "You know what she's like..." But apparently it was too late.

"Put my feet up?!" came the distinctly unimpressed response.

Imogen pursed her lips against a snigger.

"Exactly! You know...get a hobby or something!"

"A hobby?"

"Yes, Nana. Like...like painting...or...or pottery!"

"Pottery?!" Dora half-spat, and both grandchildren failed to resist the urge to dissolve into giggles. "Merlin help me, the thought of it!" their grandmother muttered despairingly, and once she had set the kettle down to boil, Pandora retreated to the dining room to ask:

"Don't you like being retired, Nana?"

"Merlin, no. No, Pandora. I hate being retired."

"But why? You've got all that time to do anything you want!"

The metamorphmagus reached to run a weary hand through her snowy hair, shaking her head.

"Oh no, love. I've got plenty of time, that's true. But time to do what I want? I've no time to do that at all."

"What d'you want to do?"  
"I want to work, Pandora." Dora informed the girl frankly, offering her a rather sad smile. "I'd do anything to just..._work_."

"Minister Shacklebolt threw a massive party for you when you retired." Imogen pointed out as if this made retirement incapable of being anything but a good thing, and Dora let out a rather bitter laugh as she agreed:

"Yes he did. And at the end of the evening I handed my Auror badge in, went home, went to bed and sobbed into your grandad's shoulder until I fell asleep. And when I woke up the following morning and realised I didn't have to be at Auror Headquarters by seven o'clock...well...I sobbed my heart out all over again!" The witch sighed heavily, before cracking a smile as she suggested: "When you find something to keep you occupied in life, girls...something you love, something you can be passionate about...stick with it as long as you can, because you won't realise how truly important it is until it's gone."

"Like Quidditch?" Imogen wondered hopefully.

Her grandmother reached to bury her face in her hands with a heavy sigh.

"No, Imogen. Not like bloody _Quidditch_...!" she mumbled despairingly, only for Imogen to ask:

"What's that?"

There was a long, deliberating pause before Dora straightened up, plastering a grin across her face as she said:

"Nothing, love."

"Are you being a ridiculous hypocrite again, Nana?" Imogen accused with a snigger, and Dora scowled at the fruit bowl in the middle of the table as she gave a chuckle and said:

"Don't be daft, Imogen! Of course I'm not! Where's this cup of tea, then?"


	4. SEWS

_Note: I'm back! Sort of. Maybe. Possibly not. Actually I'm not entirely sure if I'm back for good yet, but here is a chapter for you anyway!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**4: The Society for the Enrichment and Wellbeing of Squibs**

That afternoon, having decided to help Imogen vanish the mess in the kitchen to hurry the process along a bit, Dora had disappeared off home in an attempt to avoid any explanations to Carrie, whilst Imogen had disappeared off upstairs to hide in her bedroom, music pounding from the wireless at full volume. Pandora had been left to straighten the last few things in the kitchen and was just shoving a somewhat singed looking tea towel into the back of a drawer when the front door clicked open, announcing her mother's arrival home.

"Alright, love?" Carrie called as she dropped her keys down in the glass dish upon the windowsill. "How was school?"

"It was okay." Pandora consented to calling back as she hastily pushed the drawer shut.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Mm."

As Pandora watched Carrie shrug off her coat before wandering into the kitchen, making a beeline for the kettle, the muggle gave a sigh and confessed:

"I do wonder why we bother sending you to school, Pan. Apparently you never do anything there at all!"

"We did an experiment in Chemistry." the teenager elaborated, wandering over to pull open the fridge, frowning at its contents.

"Oh? How did that go?"

"Alright, I suppose."

At the lack of enthusiasm for the conversation, Carrie changed tactic.

"How're Libby and Claire, then?" she asked as she came to reach over the girl's arm to pluck the milk from the top shelf of the fridge.

"Same as usual. Kevin's left Libby's mum again..."

"Goodness...we'll have to ask Libby for dinner..."

"...and Claire's mum has a new car."

"Another one?"

"Yep. And it was Julian's first day today."

"Was he nervous?"

"A bit."

"I remember my first day at school...I was terribly nervous! I didn't make the best start, really..."

As she reached to push the fridge shut and instead went to snatch a bag of crisps out of the cupboard beside it, Pandora sniggered.

"You went and met Crazy Auntie Cleo, you mean?" she said, offering her mother a raised eyebrow, and the two of them promptly dissolved into laughter until Pandora found herself laughing until her eyes crinkled shut.

When she opened them again a moment later she found that Carrie's expression had suddenly shifted, gazing at Pandora with a somewhat sorrowful look.

The muggle drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily.

"I really didn't appreciate it, when I was your age." Carrie recalled softly as she reached slowly to put down the carton of milk. "That school, I mean. It's a wonderful place to learn, Pandora. I was extremely lucky to have gone there...my parents worked very hard to pay my school fees, just like Dad and I do for yours. And it could have been worth every penny, the teachers were brilliant, they had resources to make lessons interesting, we had more school trips than any other school I ever heard of...they took us to the theatre, took us to museums, galleries...they even bundled us all on a coach and packed us off to France for a week! It's a fantastic school. But it was entirely wasted on me. Because all I could see when I looked at it...was that it wasn't Hogwarts."

Pandora felt her cheeks warming, and yet as her gaze dropped to her feet she couldn't quite decide why...

In just a few short steps Carrie came to stand before her, reaching to cup the girl's face in her hands, coaxing her gaze back up until they could regard one another seriously.

"You're just the same." Carrie whispered, swallowing a lump in her throat. "You're...you're no different, Sweetheart. I can tell. It's...it's right here...on your face..." she trailed off with a sniff, pausing to reach to swipe a hasty hand across her eyes as Pandora numbly watched them grow watery.

Pandora opened her mouth to say something...anything...but before she could think of something to disregard the suddenly serious atmosphere that had descended upon the kitchen, Carrie's hand slid down to rest upon her shoulder and she admitted:

"When we...when Dad and started to think you...that you might not be a witch I...I used to wonder...I still do, sometimes...if maybe I had something to do with it..."

Pandora wanted to give a huff of laughter, then, because of course such a thing was quite ridiculous...

...and yet she could not so much as raise an eyebrow.

Because on many occasions Pandora had wondered the same thing.

"Dad used to joke about it when we were young...he'd say...he'd say I was the biggest muggle that ever there was! And one day...not long after we found out I was pregnant with Imogen...I was terribly sick with morning sickness and Dad owled Nana and Grandad as he was leaving for work to tell them. They both came over to the flat to look after me...cheer me up. Grandad disappeared into the baby's room and painted the last wall Dad hadn't finished...that cheered me up because it looked just right then! And your Nana and I were stood there in the doorway, watching Grandad move the crib Dad had bought into the corner...and it just hit me! I turned to Nana Dora and I said...I said: _Is it going to be a witch, this baby?_ And Nana Dora shrugged and said: _Maybe, maybe not! It might be a wizard!_ So I told her that wasn't what I meant. I said: _What if it's neither? What if it's not magical at all?_ Your grandad said it was possible, he supposed, and Nana Dora she...she let out such a laugh! She said if...if anybody's genes could wipe magic clear out of a family tree it would be mine! And...and even Grandad laughed a little...until they both saw my face. Your nana gave me such a hug, then! She told me not to be daft. And anyway, she said, it didn't matter if the baby was magical or not, we'd love him or her just the same! Like...like they loved me!" Carrie sighed heavily, shaking her head as she recalled: "Then Imogen was born and we knew she was magical early on and I forgot all about the talk I'd had with Nana and Grandad. But then of course you came along..." Carrie's hand came to press against her daughter's cheek, thumb scuffing skin soothingly as she gave her head a little shake.

Pandora felt rather as if she had forgotten how to breathe.

"Listen, darling," Carrie told her, standing a little straighter, reaching to push a stray strand of hair behind her ear as it had slipped into her eyes. "If...if you being a squib has...has anything to do with me...anything at all..."

"It doesn't." Pandora informed her quickly, because she had to. Because it was the right thing to do. Because she didn't want her mother to feel guilty. Because she didn't really know if she was lying or not...

"...if it's my fault then...then I'm sorry. I'm so very, very sorry. It's...it's not what I...what I wanted for you, I didn't want you to be...to feel so...out of place. I didn't want you to feel like I did...worse than I did! But...but the truth is, Sweetheart, if you weren't a squib...well you wouldn't be who you are now. And I love who you are now, we all do, Dad and...and your sister and your aunts, uncles, cousins and Nana and Grandad, your friends too. We all love Pandora. Just the way she is. So...so don't you make the same mistake as me, alright? Don't you...don't you waste your time dreaming about magic and witches and wizards! Don't you ever think for a second that you'd be better off if you were a witch! Don't be like me and wish your life away, Sweetheart! Look...look for rainbows! That's what Nana Dora told me once! Look for rainbows, Pan, and don't bury your head in the clouds because you'll miss them, alright? You need to realise this now. Don't be like me, don't realise it when it's too late. I don't want you to miss anything, Sweetheart. You're much better than that."

Pandora didn't know what to say, then. She rather wanted to turn and run away, hide in her bedroom and pretend the whole conversation had never happened, because it was just much too confusing, her mind felt muddled, she didn't really know how to feel about it...

About being The Squib.

About searching for rainbows when the clouds were so low, so dark and grey, so consuming...

And had Nana Dora simply made a rather thoughtless joke, all those years ago? Had it really been nonsense that her muggle mother's genes had wiped the magic clear from her?

Sometimes Pandora couldn't help but think that it wasn't nonsense at all. Even if that was probably illogical. After all, Imogen wasn't a squib, far from it...

Why her? Why not Imogen? It didn't seem very fair...

And yet there seemed little more to say than:

"Okay, Mum."

At last, Carrie smiled.

"You're a good girl, Pan." the mother said, at last allowing her hands to drop to her sides. "You're much braver than I was, when I was your age."

Pandora gave a soft snort, reaching to tear open her packet of crisps.

"How d'you know that?" she asked, causing the smile upon Carrie's face to widen. "I've never had anything to be brave for. Not any big things. Not like you."

"It doesn't matter, I can still tell." Carrie insisted, reaching to pluck a crisp from the packet before turning her attention back to making tea. "Perhaps you've only had small things so far...normal things...starting school, standing up to bullies, those sorts of normal everyday things. But I had those things too, Pan, and I can see the difference already. You kicked up a fuss about going to primary school, it's true, and you were terribly, terribly shy. But when we dropped you off you pulled yourself together, marched into that classroom and got on with it. When I started primary school...at the same time as all the other children, no less, Aunt Susan says I cried every morning for the first three weeks! As for bullies...they bullied me something rotten when I started secondary school. They would've carried on, too, if Cleo hadn't been around. But you, Pan...you're quieter than I was and yet bullies have never bothered you. You can stand up for yourself if you have to. If you don't have any other choice. That's not something I could ever do. I didn't stand up for myself truly for years and years...in fact I didn't even stand up for me first, I stood up for somebody else..." Carrie trailed off, frowning as she poured tea into a mug, and Pandora wondered:

"Who?"

Carrie gave a soft huff, shaking her head.

"Cain Gudgen came looking for Nana Dora one day when your Dad was out and Grandad wasn't downstairs to answer the door. I was just so furious to see him...the nerve of the man! I told him to get out!"

"Cain Gudgen?"

"Mm."

"Who's Cain Gudgen, Mum?"

There was a long pause before Carrie gave herself a little shake and muttered:

"Nobody, love. He was...nobody. Just...just a troublemaker, I suppose. Back when...when Nana and Grandad got in a spot of bother for...for protesting against the Ministry..."

"When they got banged up in the Ministry holding cells for the night in London?"

"Y...yes. Exactly."

Pandora rolled her eyes, chewing noisily upon her crisps.

"You're doing it again, Mum."

"Doing what, love?"

"Being all funny about it. I don't see what's so awful! If I were Nana Dora I'd find it funny...you know...being held in MLE's holding cells when usually she'd be the one putting people in there, not the other way around!"  
"Ha..."

"Everybody talks so grimly about it, for Merlin's sake!"

"Well it was...unpleasant..."

"Well yes, but the way you and Dad look when Im or I mention it! Anybody would think Nana and Grandad had been in _Azkaban_ or something!"

Carrie gave a vague _hmm_ as she reached to pick up two mugs of tea, walking to press one into Pandora's hand.

"Who told you about Nana and Grandad being in the Ministry holding cells, Pan? Originally?"

Pandora took a sip of her tea, wincing a little when it was much too hot.

"Nana Dora." she girl recalled with a shrug. "She said she and Grandad took your parents to Mungo's in protest against the Dousers, so Ambrose Kraft had them marched off to the Ministry and stuck in the holding cells for a night! She said Jasmine Wickes popped down in the evening and gave them both a mug of hot chocolate! Ha!"

"Ha..." Carrie murmured, frowning rather than being truly amused, and with that she stepped past Pandora and out into the hallway, gaze turned to the stairs as she called, quite pointlessly thanks to the booming music from above: "Tea's down here, Imogen!"

Teddy arrived home from work just five minutes late that evening, and as he stepped out of the floo a somewhat singed piece of pink Ministry memo paper, folded into a rather crumpled aeroplane, came nose diving after him, embedding itself in the rug at his feet.

Having risen from where she had been waiting upon the sofa to stoop and retrieve the paper, Pandora unfolded it curiously and, squinting down at the scribbled writing upon it, informed her father:

"Jasmine wants to see you in her office. _Immediately or else_, it says here on this memo..."

Teddy reached a blind hand sideways to pluck the paper from his daughter's hand, screwing it up into a tight little ball in his fest before turning to throw it back into the fireplace, wondering:

"What memo? I haven't had any memos!" And with that he turned to look his daughter up and down, taking in her shoes and jacket, inquiring: "All set then, are we? Let's go!"

The Society for the Enrichment and Wellbeing of Squibs was based in a distinctly unremarkable, squat red bricked building with a flat roof that was somewhat dwarfed by the tall townhouses around it. An uneven concrete pathway led across an overgrown lawn up to the double doors, and as she shuffled somewhat reluctantly after her father through the cast iron gate towards the door, Pandora eyes the the place and found herself musing that it looked...well..._scrappy_.

"Give it a good try, won't you Sweetheart?" Teddy was saying as he paused to wipe his boots upon the mat upon the doorstep. "I'll come back and get you in an hour..."

"You said half an hour this morning!"

"What's half an hour extra, Pan? I've got to pop to the shops for Mum, d'you expect me to apparate down the aisles? Come on, it'll fly by and you never know, you'll probably really enjoy yourself!"

Pandora allowed herself one last sigh of reluctance, before attempting to plaster the brightest smile she could muster upon her face as Teddy reached to pull open the door, stepping back so that she could step inside ahead of him.

"You're right, I suppose I might." the teenager agreed as she stepped into a small hallway, the floor tiled dull cream and the walls painted to match, brightened only by a large noticeboard on the wall beside a door to their left, countless pieces of parchment and photographs tacked in place with drawing pins. Pandora wandered forward to get a closer look, and casted her gaze after a large, crowded still photograph of a group of people stood in a field, dressed in waterproofs and apparently getting soaked by the rain, yet all grinning broadly. Young and old alike were stood together, laughter frozen upon their features, and Pandora was just musing that they looked rather like one enormous extended family when there came the sound of footsteps and a middle-aged woman dress in a flowery white dress with thin golden spectacles perched upon her long nose appeared in the doorway, clutching a large jug of orange juice.

"Oh, hello!" she greeted, cracking a broad smile. "Can I help at all?"

"We're looking for...Jeffrey Fawley?" Teddy told her as Pandora retreated to stand beside him, and the woman hastily turned to reach and set the jug back down upon the countertop just inside the room behind her, which Pandora saw was a small, cramped kitchen.

"Oh, yes! Yes he said we had a new visitor!" she recalled cheerily as she reappeared out in the hallway. "I'll just fetch him for you, he was just talking to little Christopher about the ice hockey!"

As she bustled down the hall and through the set of double doors at the end, Teddy frowned a little and Pandora consented to inform him:

"It's a muggle sport, Dad. Played on skates on an ice rink."

"An ice rink?"

"Yes."

One glance sideways confirmed to Pandora that this explanation only seemed to have baffled her father further.

In no time at all the double doors were thrown open again as the woman reappeared, seemingly halfway through laughing about something or other, pausing to look over her shoulder to ask:

"Cup of tea, Jeff?"

"Oh, yes please Nancy! That would be lovely, thank you!" a cheerful voice announced and once Nancy had taken a few more steps into the hall Pandora got a proper look at the person behind her...

He was a tall, broad shouldered young man in his early twenties with a head of thick, somewhat shaggy brown hair and neatly trimmed stubble upon his square jaw to match. He had bright, twinkling eyes, a kind smile and was dressed in a checked blue shirt, a few of the top buttons left undone, and a pair of pale brown chinos that, despite his somewhat casual appearance overall, appeared to have been neatly pressed.

"Chocolate biccy?" Nancy called as she disappeared into the kitchen, and Jeffrey Fawley drew in an exaggerated breath and exclaimed:

"You're spoiling me!"

"And don't you forget it!" the woman laughed and Pandora watched as the man came to a halt before her, greeting:

"Mr. Lupin, I presume! Wonderful to meet you, my name's Jeff..."

"Ted." Teddy supplied as the two of them shook hands, and Pandora felt her mouth go a little dry when those bright eyes were turned on her and Jeff observed:

"And you must be Pandora!"

For a long moment, Pandora found herself entirely mute.

Because Jeffrey Fawley was simply perfect.

He was without doubt the most handsome man that Pandora had ever lain eyes upon, she was sure of it...

Pandora had never really thought of a man as handsome before. She'd thought of boys, of course. Of Declan Harper, of that boy who had sat next to Libby in Geography last year, of Cousin Robin's friend Neil who had been at Uncle Timothy's barbecue in the summer...

She'd had a bit of a silly crush on one of the members of the Wizarding rock band Burning Broomsticks after Imogen had plastered posters of them over her bedroom walls along with the Weird Sisters a few years back. But that had been exactly what it had been: silly. She hadn't really been attracted to them particularly, she had simply thought they were rather cool. She wasn't old enough to be attracted to men. They were just...older. Different. Like some sort of other species...

Or so she had thought, at least...

Perhaps this was all part of her being...what was it her parents always called it? _At that awkward age_...

How long precisely did That Awkward Age last for, anyway? Did it last until the age of twenty one? Twenty two, even? Had Nana Dora been at that awkward age when she had joined the Order of the Phoenix and met Pandora's grandfather?

Surely if she had been, their relationship would never have lasted...

Pandora blinked.

What in Merlin's name was she going on about?

She blinked again, plastered what she suspected was a rather silly grin onto her face and stuck out her hand, announcing:

"Yes, that's me! Nice to meet you!"

Jeff shook her hand, apparently entirely unaware that she was stir crazy, and turned back towards the double doors.

"Why don't you both come and have a quick look round?" he suggested brightly. "We're a bit thin on the ground this evening, but I'm sure you'll get the gist of what it's all about! It's Hobbies Night tonight..."

"Hobbies Night?"

"That's right." Jeff reached to throw open the double doors to reveal the modest hall within, dotted here and there with sofas and armchairs in which a mismatch of people were lounging with cups of tea and coffee, chatting to one another. A small boy came charging past the doorway, wielding a hockey stick that he was waving somewhat manically above his head, leading a teenage girl who was busy winding up a ball of knitting wool in an armchair to let out a small shriek of surprise, throwing the ball up into the air.

"Slow down, Christopher!" the girl shrieked, causing the boy to come to an abrupt halt, eyes wide as he turned to call:

"Sorry, Rochelle!"

Stifling a snigger, Jeff turned to inform Pandora and Teddy:

"We believe that having hobbies is one of the most important aspects of our lives, gives us something that we enjoy doing that we can focus on, leads to achievement. I makes you feel good about yourself, you know? And once a month we have Hobby Night where we can all share our hobbies, gain new ones, show each other how things are going...how's the scarf, Rochelle?"

The girl in the armchair held up a long, scraggily looking garment that was still attached to a pair of knitting needles with a deep frown, concluding:

"Totally crap, Jeff!"

Jeff offered her a raised eyebrow.

"Oh I don't know...I'd wear it!"

"You would?" Rochelle asked doubtfully, and the man promptly grinned and said:

"Sure! How much are you going to pay me?"

Rochelle stuck her tongue out at him as Pandora found herself stifling a snigger into her hand.

"If you're not careful I'll give you one for Christmas!" Rochelle threatened with a grin, reaching to tuck a strand of copper-coloured hair behind her ear, and Jeff admitted:

"Seriously though, it looks far better than the last one, keep at it! Liz is coming in later, get her to have a look at it! Maybe she can help you."

"Yeah...yeah that's a good idea. Cheers, Jeff!"

"What's your hobby then, Jeff?" Teddy wondered, and as he led the way further into the room, Jeff told them:

"Archery! Absolutely love it, but as you can imagine it doesn't get demonstrated in here all that often!" He paused to look sideways at Pandora in order to ask: "What about you, Pandora? What do you like to do?"

"Um..." Pandora frowned down at her shoes, before giving a shrug and admitting: "I don't really know..."

"You don't know?"

"No...not really..."

"You must do something in your spare time!" Jeff insisted, offering Teddy a raised eyebrow. "Come on, when you come back from school what's your favourite thing to do?"

Pandora felt her cheeks warming a little as she shrugged again.

"I...I just like to visit my grandparents, I suppose."

"Who doesn't like visiting grandparents?!" Jeff laughed, forced to dodge sideways a little when Christopher came bolting past him, narrowly avoiding hitting him in the face with the hockey stick. "I go and visit my grandmother once a month and she still gives me a packet of bubblegum, no matter how old I get! Their marvellous aren't they, grandparents?"

"Yes...they're really great."

"Go on, tell me about them."

Pandora felt somewhat bemused by his apparent interest, but nevertheless consented to telling him:

"Well...my Nana's the former Deputy Head of the Auror Department."

"And does she have any hobbies?"

"She likes to write irritated letters to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, telling them that she can do their jobs better than they can."

Teddy nearly choked on thin air as he gasped in a breath to laugh, and Jeff offered Pandora a wide grin.

"She sounds like a formidable sort of lady!"

"Sometimes!" Pandora sniggered as they came to a corner where a large sofa stood vacant. As he gestured for them to sit down, Jeff asked:

"And what about your grandfather? What does he like to do?"

"He reads books. Loads of them."

"He's spent the past five years writing a full account of the first and second Order of the Phoenix." Teddy said, failing to sit down like the other two. "All being well it'll be a published book by next Christmas."

"So they're both enthusiastic writers of one form or the other!" Jeff observed as Teddy reached to extract his pocket watch from an inside pocket of his scarlet Auror robes, and the Auror gave a huff of amusement and admitted:

"I wouldn't go that far. My mother was allergic to parchment and ink whilst she was at the Ministry. I doubt all that much has changed now!" Snapping the watch open, Teddy observed the time thoughtfully for a moment before closing it again, shoving it back into his pocket. "I really must be off, Sweetheart. Mum'll be wanting the things for dinner!" Reaching to give his daughter's shoulder a squeeze, he turned to inform Jeff: "I shall be back to collect her in about an hour."

"Excellent!" Jeff said as the two of them shook hands again. "That'll be plenty of time to have a cup of tea, meet a few of the others and have a good look around!"

Pandora waved goodbye to her father with far less apprehension than she had first expected, such was the ease of Jeff's company, and before long Nancy brought the two of them a cup of tea. They sat chatting for some fifteen minutes and before long Pandora couldn't help but feel as if she had known him for fifteen entire years.

"Have you ever thought of writing, Pandora?" Jeff wondered as he dunked a chocolate biscuit into his tea, pulling it out just in the nick of time before it could crumble to mush in the hot liquid.

"Writing?" Pandora echoed, frowning down at her mug, and the young man paused to chew upon the biscuit before saying:

"Yes, writing. Like your grandfather does."

"I don't really know what my grandfather does." Pandora admitted with a shrug. "He doesn't really share it with us...only Nana Dora sees it, I suppose. He keeps the manuscript locked away in a big trunk in his bedroom, like some sort of big secret!"

"What about like your grandmother, then? Don't you ever find something so...so irritating or stupid that you feel like you could write about it?"

"What sorts of things?"

"Does it matter? It could be anything! Why don't you give it a go, see what happens? You never know, you might be the next Dickens!" Jeff reached to snatch up another biscuit from the barrel that Nancy had left upon the sofa between the two of them, dunking it into his tea with a little too much enthusiasm for it promptly dissolved into mush, causing the man to grumbled: "Oh sod it!"

Pandora couldn't help it, she giggled, reaching to press a hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to smother her amusement.

Jeff offered her a distinctly exasperated look.

"A giggler, are you?" he said, abandoning his mug somewhat forcefully down upon the little coffee table beside the sofa before getting to his feet. "We've got another one of those. Come and say hello to Rochelle, I think the two of you will get on famously!"

Crossing the room back to where Rochelle was sat tying her knitting into increasingly baffling knots, Pandora spied two men in their late twenties who appeared to be comparing sketchbooks full of cartoon drawings, a teenaged girl in ripped jeans and a cropped t shirt who appeared to be teaching a middle-aged, balding man how to play the electric guitar, and a young man and woman who appeared to be waltzing around the room to a crackling tune on a record player as a number of their peers clapped them enthusiastically.

"Rochelle," Jeff's voice brought Pandora's attention back to the girl in the armchair in front of them. "This is Pandora."

Rochelle flung her knitting down into her lap and looked up at the newcomer with a broad grin.

"Alright, Pandora?" she greeted, shifting to sit a little straighter in her chair.

"Rochelle's been coming here for...how long has it been now?"

"You mean you don't remember?!" Rochelle gave an exaggerated pout, declaring: "That's impossible, Jeff! This place was dull before I came along!"

"Oh I don't know," Jeff laughed, cocking his head over to where the girl with the guitar had paused in her teaching to plaster a fresh layer of thick black eyeliner around her eyes. "We had Hallie, she's pretty cool..."

"Hallie isn't cool, she's just a really good at pretending!" Rochelle insisted loudly, causing the girl in question to pause in her application of eyeliner to offer them an exaggerated wink.

Turning her attention back to Pandora, Rochelle suggested: "Why don't you pull up a chair, eh?" gesturing to the tangled mess of wool in her lap she confessed: "I'm totally stuck with this until Liz shows up and rescues me!"

Spotting an empty chair up against the wall behind them, Pandora shot Rochelle a smile before heading off to fetch it. She was just dragging it back across the room when the double doors were flung open wide, revealing a tall woman in her late twenties who came striding purposefully into the room, high heeled boots tapping loudly upon the tiled floor. She was sporting a pair of alarmingly tight jet black jeans and a silky black blouse with silver trim lacing its way along a plunging neckline that Pandora couldn't help but feel left little to the imagination. Despite her slender figure, made even taller by her hair piled artfully in a heap atop her head, she had a somewhat wide, slightly masculine face, lips smeared with ruby red lipstick that stretched into a broad smile as she threw out her arms and declared in a breathy, slightly accented tone:

"Jeffrey! Darling!"

And with that she launched herself across the room into Jeff's arms, throwing her arms around his neck with such force that he stumbled in his attempts to stay upon his feet. He had barely drawn breath to speak before she had crushed their lips together, her hands reaching to tangle themselves somewhat forcefully in his hair, and when he finally managed to draw back enough to breathe a long moment later the man let out a somewhat choked breath and exclaimed:

"Woah! Steady on there, Sweetheart!"

The woman fluttered her eyelids at him, leaning to press herself up against him as Pandora heard her wonder:

"And where's the fun in that, hm?!"

Jeff laughed, awkwardly, before explaining:

"I um...I was just...I'm sort of in the middle, you know? So...well..."

The woman gave a distinctly irritated huff, expression growing suddenly quite stern as she took a step back from him, looking him up and down.

"You have lipstick all over your face." she informed him critically, as if it were all his fault, and then she demanded: "Hold still!"

Pandora watched her reach to extract a wand from...Merlin only knew where, and she proceeded to wipe the smears of red from his face with a lazy flick.

"Thanks..." Jeff began, smiling brightly, only for her to catch hold of him by the hand and tell him:

"I want you to come outside a minute!"

"Yes...in a minute, eh?" Jeff suggested, reaching to slip a hand around her waist as he turned the pair of them back round to face Pandora and Rochelle, who was eying the woman somewhat distastefully. "We've got somebody new today, see? This is Pandora."

The woman eyed Pandora in disinterest for a long moment before consenting to holding out a ring-studded hand that positively glittered with gold and precious stones.

"Rovena Luga." she supplied somewhat grandly, and for a moment Pandora simply stared at her hand, wondering if she was somehow expected to kiss it.

"Pandora Lupin." the girl said instead, reaching to shake Rovena Luga's hand. "Lovely to meet..."

"Yes, yes!" Rovena Luga said, pulling her hand free almost as soon as Pandora's fingers had enclosed around it. "Nice to meet you, now come on Jeff! Let's go!"

And with that she reached to grab hold of Jeff by the hand and practically dragged him back off through the double doors.

"Stuck up cow!" Rochelle muttered, turning her attention back to her knitting.

Jeff did not reappear for almost half an hour, but Pandora enjoyed sitting and chatting to Rochelle, who she discovered was a member of the pure blood Selwyn family and the youngest of triplets. Her two sisters, she recounted somewhat bitterly, were both witches. She had been taught to knit by a woman named Liz who came to S.E.W.S once every few weeks when she could find a babysitter for her children, which apparently was not very often because the children in question were, according to Rochelle, a right pain in the arse. Rochelle came to S.E.W.S whenever it was open, was always waiting on the doorstep for Jeff when he arrived to open up, and was always the last to leave. She was looking forward to finishing her A Levels at college so that she could finally get a job and move out of the family home because, she insisted, her family were 'a bunch of tossers'.

When Jeff did finally come back, Rochelle took one look at him and giggled:

"Oh Merlin!"

The girl proceeded to leap to her feet, reaching into her pocket to pull a tissue from her pocket, and Pandora looked on as she proceeded to hurry over, pressing the tissue into his hand. As he attempted to wipe the fresh lipstick from his jaw with the help of Rochelle's vague directions, Pandora heard Rochelle point out:

"And your shirt buttons are all done up wrong. Did you notice?"

"What?" Jeff mumbled, face growing steadily pink, and he took one look down at the shirt in question before swearing colourfully under his breath, dropping the tissue to the floor before fleeing towards a side room which, from the briefest of glimpses Pandora identified as a bathroom.

"Merlin, that woman of his is a right slut!" Rochelle spat a moment later as she dropped back down to sit at Pandora's side. "It's like she can't keep her hands off him or something. It happens all the time, you know! It's disgusting, and we've got little kids here too!" Her eyes grew wide and mischievous as she leant sideways towards Pandora to whisper: "Hallie swore she caught them at it once! Round the back up against the picnic table, like bloody rabbits...!" As she dissolved into giggles, Pandora felt her cheeks grow warm at the mere thought and found herself protesting:

"I don't think...I mean...Jeff doesn't really seem the type to...you know..."

"Oh, he isn't!" Rochelle laughed, slapping a hand down upon her knee. "It's all her idea I bet, like I said she's a right slut..."

"What on earth does he see in her?" Pandora wondered, nose wrinkling a little, and Rochelle gave a snort and said:

"Money. Stacks of it. This place doesn't run itself, you know!" And with that she gave an exaggerated wink.

"Oh..." Pandora mumbled, frowning deeply, and when Jeff came wandering somewhat gingerly out of the bathroom door a moment later, she found herself feeling extremely sorry for him indeed.


	5. A Pair of Fools

_Note: I've been up until 3:30am writing this. How utterly ridiculous of me..._

_So! Excuse any errors!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**5: A Pair of Fools**

"...and then we all had tea and cake because Nancy had been baking..."

"Lovely."

"...and I had two slices because Jeff said he wasn't hungry and gave his share to me..."

"That was good of him."

"...he's always so nice, Nana..."

"Sounds like it."

"...he even let me win at chess the other week!"

"Maybe he's just crap at chess."

"He isn't, Im! He let me win, he's brilliant at chess really..."

"For goodness sake, Pandora! Is there anything he _isn't_ brilliant at?"

Pandora looked up from pushing a roast potato distractedly around her plate to offer her older sister a scowl, but before she could retort, beside her her grandfather uttered a meaningful:

"_Imogen._"

"What?" Imogen said, nose wrinkling indignantly at the gentle scolding. "It's all she ever talks about these days! Jeff this, Jeff that...!"

As Pandora felt her cheeks blossoming with colour, Dora reached to snatch up the bottle of wine at her youngest granddaughter's elbow, rolling her eyes.

"Oh leave her alone, Im!" the former Auror muttered as she poured herself a more than generous glassful of the crimson liquid. "If Pan's happy then that's just wonderful!"

Imogen gave a soft huff only for her expression to twist into a smirk, watching her grandmother take a generous gulp from her glass.

"Grandad?" the young witch said, apparently changing the subject much to her sister's relief.

"Mm?"

"Is Nana an alcoholic?"

Pandora jumped as Dora promptly spat wine into her dinner, before dissolving into a violent coughing fit. At the other end of the table her husband merely took a sip of his orange juice and murmured:

"Only a borderline one, I'm sure." A few splutter-ridden moments later he consented to asking: "Be a saint and fetch Nana a glass of water, won't you Immy?"

"She's not a bloody s...saint!" Dora wheezed, slapping a hand down upon the table that made Pandora jump again. "She's the bloody devil child..."

"Yes, we already know that." Remus agreed, turning his attention back to his dinner.

It was late December and with just a week to go before Christmas, Teddy and Carrie had left to attend the Auror Department's Christmas party at the Ministry. With the S.E.W.S festive get together scheduled for the same evening and Imogen's boyfriend Jamie due to whisk Imogen away somewhere for the night, Remus and Dora had come over to fix their granddaughters some dinner and escort Pandora into London. Nana Dora had cooked roast lamb without burning it. Quite frankly Pandora was impressed.

Since first attending S.E.W.S back in September, Pandora had been attending meetings there twice a week after school, and would go every single evening if she had the opportunity. As it was her parents didn't seem to think this necessary and Pandora was becoming increasingly jealous of Rochelle who lived within walking distance of the place in London and whose parents didn't seem to care where she went during the evenings at all. Pandora had come to view the slightly run down little building as a second home of sorts for the certainly felt as if she belonged there, surrounded by people like her, all of whom, no matter what their age, seemed very friendly and easy to talk to. They got up to all sorts of different activities from takeaway dinners with party games to excursions out into the countryside, book readings for the adults to treasure hunts for the children, little musical concerts put on by the musicians on Hobby Night to simply sitting around with tea and biscuits, having a good chat. Pandora often enjoyed just sitting and talking like that, giggling about anything and everything with Rochelle, talking about what school had been like back in the old days with an elderly lady named Maude, hearing what mischief Liz's children had been up to that week or what old Mr. Elton's late wife would have to say about this or that. She got on rather well with the eyeliner obsessed girl named Hallie, they had surprisingly similar tastes in music and there were two twenty year old young men named Gareth and Sebastian who, when not arguing over which one of them Hallie secretly fancied (which from what Pandora could tell was neither of them), were good fun to be around too. Sebastian had even taken to lending Pandora books to read.

Yes, Pandora had made a great number of new friends since September and she was extremely fond of all of them. But the one person she looked forward to seeing above all others was Jeff. Jeff was always extremely busy, running around organising events and outings. It was a wonder, Pandora thought, that he had a single spare moment to himself or time to sit and chat to anybody. And yet it seemed that Jeff had time for everybody. He had time to run around playing games with the children, had time to sit and give words of encouragement to the adults, had time to pop here and there and help with one thing or another. He seemed to have plenty of time for Pandora, too, and he was always bright and smiling. He took an interest in all sorts of aspects of her life; he always asked her how school was going and had even spent several hours helping with tricky pieces of homework. He spoke enthusiastically about setting up a S.E.W.S newsletter that he was confident Pandora could write for, he cheered her up if she had had a bad day and made her good days even better.

And Jeff was always smiling.

Sometimes Pandora thought it made her go a little weak at the knees.

Sometimes Pandora really did go weak at the knees. It had happened last week when everybody had donned thick coats, hats and scarves and gone to have a go at archery for the afternoon. Jeff had stood behind her and held her arm steady, helping her to aim. Somehow she had managed to drop the bow and arrow entirely and stumbled back into him when she had felt him lean a little closer to squint at the target over her shoulder. She'd flinched a little at his hand tightening upon her elbow and gone positively scarlet when he had chuckled and told her: _Watch your step, Pan!_

Pandora had been forced to lie and say that her arm was aching and she'd had quite enough archery for one afternoon. He'd grinned and stopped her heart dead in her chest for a beat or two when he'd suggested: _Next time, then! You wait, I'll make an archer out of you yet!_

She'd watched him wander over to help Hallie, who didn't drop her bow or go scarlet or anything of the sort. With Jeff's help she'd hit the target impressively close to the middle and everybody had clapped her, everybody except for Pandora who had been too busy wondering why girls didn't simply drop at Jeff's feet when he walked past them.

She later supposed that the answer to this was relatively simple.

For all his numerous merits Jeff was essentially very ordinary. He didn't have some sort of high-flying job, indeed he had no job at all because S.E.W.S kept him so busy. He had little if none of his own money, Pandora supposed, and he was a little older than most teenaged girls like she, Rochelle and Hallie would bother to notice.

But none of this mattered as far as Pandora was concerned. She liked Jeff anyway.

Because money wasn't important. Of course Pandora didn't really know what it felt like to be poor, by the time she had been born her father had been qualified as fully fledged Auror for a full year and by the time she was old enough to notice money it had never been much of an issue. Of course her friend Libby was awfully poor and things were dreadful for her, there was no doubt about it. But then Nana Dora and Grandad had spent the vast majority of their married life scraping a living and it had never mattered to them. How could it have mattered? They were in love!

Nothing had mattered to Nana Dora and Grandad, not ever. It hadn't mattered that Grandad was a werewolf, it hadn't mattered that he had been older. Age was just a number, and that was a fact!

And that was why Pandora was different from the other girls. She knew all of these things.

Because her grandparents were living proof of them.

She might just be falling in love with Jeff, she mused that evening as she polished off the last of her roast potatoes. Except she wasn't really sure how the whole falling in love thing worked...

It would be rather dreadful, she supposed, to fall in love with Jeff. After all, he was in love with Rovena...apparently...

If money didn't matter, how on earth did somebody like Jeff fall in love with somebody as awful as Rovena Luga?

She decided to ask her grandmother some half an hour later when the two of them were sat up in Pandora's bedroom upon the bed, Nana Dora busy casting numerous curling charms on Pandora's hair, a permanent frown upon her lips.

"Merlin, I've not sat and done this in years!" the witch observed as she reached to wind fresh strands of mousy hair around her wand.

"Nana?" Pandora mused as she stared over at the photographs she had pinned around the mirror upon the opposite wall.

"Hm?"

"How come...how come people fall in love with the wrong person?"

Nana Dora let out a soft huff of amusement as she reached to hold the hair carefully in place.

"Oh, for a hundred reasons, love!" she said, pausing to murmur a spell under her breath, only to pull the wand free from the now curly locks. "It all depends on who!"

"It's Jeff." Pandora confessed, frowning deeply at the very thought. "He has the most horrible girlfriend, Nana, he really does!"

"Does he?" the former Auror said, sounding only mildly interested, only for her to lose hold of the next section of hair when Pandora fidgeted irritably as she insisted:

"Yes! He does! _Rovena Luga_! She's utterly dreadful, I can't stand her, nobody can..."

"Rovena..._Luga_?" Nana Dora repeated, sounding suddenly more interested, and Pandora wondered:

"Yes, do you know her?"

"Oh, no." the witch said, shaking her head a little even though Pandora could not see her. As she reached to select another section of hair she recalled: "But I've known a Luga or two in my time. They're one of Albania's oldest Wizarding families, like the Blacks and the Malfoys in Britain. They're extremely wealthy, I hear. I had wondered what they were up to, the ones that left Albania, that is."

"Why?"

"Oh I'm just curious, love."

"Well I don't know what Rovena Luga does. Except for showing up to S.E.W.S every so often to boss Jeff around and be rude to everyone."

"I think you'll find being rude is a Luga family trait, Sweetheart. They're rather...forceful characters! But don't let it bother you. Unless you find one pointing a wand at your face, then you ought be very bothered indeed!" And with that, Nana Dora let out a laugh and Pandora suddenly recalled where her grandmother had heard the name Luga before.

"Was she really that scary, Nana? Valbona Luga, I mean?"

"Oh love, she was a force of nature! She still is, I imagine! She was National Duelling Champion three years in a row!"

"And you beat her!" Pandora recalled proudly, and her grandmother agreed:

"In a manor of speaking, yes."

"Mum says she was a monster."

Nana Dora gave a distinctly disapproving huff and murmured:

"Mum should know better."

"What d'you mean?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange was a monster, Pandora. Valbona Luga is, and always has been, entirely human. She's a fine Auror, she just has a particularly boisterous competitive streak."

"Mum says you hate her."

"Mum says wrong. I don't _hate_ her. I _admire_ her."

Grandparents, Pandora mused, were strange.

"Why would Jeff like a woman like Rovena Luga?" she wondered, because talking about Valbona Luga seemed even more baffling, and to her irritation her grandmother instantly guessed the same as Rochelle:

"Money, love." Then she gave a chuckle and asked: "Who doesn't want to marry into money?!"

"You."

"Don't be daft, love. I'd love to have married into money, everybody would. Being financially secure helps you sleep soundly in your bed at night. It just so happens that some of us aren't shallow enough to put that concern at the top of our list."

"Jeff isn't shallow..."

"We're all at least a little bit shallow. Is she pretty?"

"No."

"Hm..."

"She has big boobs and she wears tight enough clothes that you'd think they were spray painted on."

To Pandora's annoyance, her grandmother laughed again and exclaimed:

"Oh, Pan!"

"I just don't understand why Jeff likes her, Nana!"

"Well perhaps she is nicer to him in private."

"Why would she be like that?"

"Well...we're all different in private, I suppose."

"How?"

"More...honest, perhaps. Or more...affectionate...who knows?!"

"Isn't that a bit fake?"

"Not really. You can see the truth at any time if you look hard enough. Ask Great Grandma Molly, she's an expert!"

"Is she?"

Nana Dora gave a snigger and muttered:

"And don't I know it!"

The pair lapsed into thoughtful silence as Nana Dora finished curling the final section of Pandora's hair, setting it all in place with vague wave of her wand, before pocketing it and giving her granddaughter a tap upon the shoulder, announcing:

"All done!"

Pandora slipped off the bed to her feet and went to fetch a necklace from her jewellery box, and the witch watched her, eyes somewhat scrutinizing.

"Pan?" she said after a long moment, and as she fiddled with the clasp upon her chosen set of beads, Pandora turned to wonder:

"Yes Nana?"

Nana Dora's expression was somewhat grave as she reached to push a stray strand of snowy white hair out of her eyes.

"You...you be careful, alright?" she instructed carefully after a lengthy pause. "Be careful with that heart of yours, Sweetheart. Our hearts are made of glass when we're young. They're _not_ made to...to love when we're your age! They distort anything that touches them, they break in an instant and men can see straight through them and see how they work. So you keep it safe, won't you?"

Pandora could feel herself turning the deepest shade of pink and she desperately wanted to look away...

But Nana Dora's dark eyes were pinning her to the spot.

How did she know...?

She didn't know. She didn't know anything, Pandora thought furiously. Because Pandora wasn't in love with Jeff. She wasn't! She couldn't be...

Except she was. She really was...

Wasn't.

She didn't need to be warned, in any case! She wasn't stupid, after all. She knew what she was doing.

She had no idea what she was doing.

She wasn't stupid! She could figure it all out!

And Nana Dora hadn't met him. She didn't know Jeff. She didn't know him like Pandora did and it didn't matter if Pandora was young, she wasn't a baby she knew her own mind...

She didn't know her own mind at all.

But Nana Dora didn't know Pandora's mind either! She couldn't do, she wasn't Pandora, she didn't know what it was like...

She didn't know anything...

"Grandad's waiting for me." Pandora mumbled, for she didn't know what else to say, and with that she fled towards the bedroom door, Nana Dora's gaze upon her making her flinch as she went.

Despite insisting to her grandfather that she was running incredibly late, Pandora arrived at S.E.W.S to discover that she was early enough that only a handful of people had arrived for the party and that they were still putting the finishing touches to the Christmas decorations.

She spotted Jeff standing somewhat precariously upon a stool from the kitchen as he reached to pin a string of fairy lights along the wall above the doorway and she flinched a little when he gave a potentially fatal wobble and a man across the room called:

"Careful, Jeff!"

"I've got it...!" Jeff insisted, straining upon tip toes to hook the last of the lights in place, only for the stool to teeter yet further forward...

Before she could quite realise what she was doing, Pandora had darted across the room in panic and reached to grasp hold of the stool tightly with both hands in an attempt to keep it steady. Jeff, his arms having flailed a little at the abrupt change in angle, looked down at her, momentarily shocked, before plastering a grin across his face and telling her:

"Thanks, Pan!" As he turned his attention back to the lights he gave a chuckle and wondered: "What would have done without you?"

"Fallen and cracked your head!" Pandora told him rather fiercely, going rather red when her tone made him pause to look down at her again rather questioningly, and she found herself trying to explain: "You shouldn't...you know...it's rather dangerous and you should...should be careful!"

"Yes I should, shouldn't I?" Jeff agreed as her face grew steadily redder, and her embarrassment grew tenfold when he looked past her towards the entrance to wonder: "Is this your grandfather I've heard so much about?"

Pandora turned to find her grandfather stood in the doorway, and the werewolf offered her a raised eyebrow as he held out the pale pink scarf that she had forgotten just moments beforehand. The girl made a beeline to retrieve the garment, mumbling a thank you to her grandfather as she reached to take it from him, but before she could turn and hurry away again Jeff had appeared just behind her, reaching past her to offer Remus his hand.

"Mr Lupin? Jeff Fawley, nice to meet you..."

Pandora waited somewhat impatiently for the brief exchange to be over and done with. She felt somewhat embarrassed to have her grandfather meet Jeff.

What if he went back home and told Nana Dora all about him? What if it led to them talking about...things...

Things that weren't true or things that were nothing to do with them. Things they didn't understand...

Things Pandora didn't understand...

"I've always been fascinated by it!" Jeff was announcing a few minutes later once Pandora had bothered to pay attention, and she wondered dully what it was that he was talking about. "It's just fascinating! And it just goes to prove, doesn't it? What a group of civilians can do if they put their mind to it!"

"Absolutely." Remus was agreeing, hands shoved deep into his pockets and looking ever so slightly awkward as Jeff seemingly swelled with excitement.

"I'm telling you now," the young man said with a chuckle, clapping his hands together in enthusiasm. "I'll study that book of yours once it's published, every letter of it! Just...fascinating!"

"I should take a look at Dumbledore's Army if you're keen on an impressive organisation." Remus suggested, smiling faintly, and before he could utter another word Jeff had exclaimed:

"Yes! Goodness, yes, fantastically brave...waging warfare on a smaller scale!"

Remus frowned ever so slightly, before giving a nod.

"Small scale resistance, yes..."

"But the Order of the Phoenix...it's like our personal voluntary army, it just...springs out of nowhere and...and gets stuck in!"

Remus gave a huff of amusement.

"Oh I'm much too old to be getting stuck into anything, Jeff." he said, offering Pandora a raised eyebrow for good measure. "And I can't say we've ever thought of ourselves as an _army_ exactly..."

"Then what do you think you are?" Jeff asked, sounding slightly surprised, and Remus smiled and told him:

"We're simply an organisation of like-minded individuals who all take their convictions extremely seriously." The werewolf reached to straighten his cloak before adding with a chuckle: "Both our _moral_ convictions and any unfortunate and consequential _criminal_ ones." And with that as Jeff dissolved into laughter he reached to squeeze Pandora's arm and told her: "Have a wonderful evening, Sweetheart. Imogen shall come to get you at around half eleven or so, alright?"

"Alright, Grandad." Pandora agreed, musing that she'd be lucky to be home by midnight knowing Imogen's time keeping skills, especially when Jamie was involved, and with that Remus bid Jeff a good evening before turning to disappear back through the doors and into the icy street beyond.

Pandora followed Jeff back into the hall and helped him hang the last of the decorations as a couple more party goers arrived, including Nancy who summoned them all into the cramped little kitchen to help with the food, leaving Jeff and Pandora to go to examine the last decoration in the large cardboard box in the corner.

"Ah," Jeff said, reaching to extract a sprig of rather crumpled looking greenery from the box. "I knew I'd packed it somewhere!" He held it up for Pandora's inspection and the girl felt as if her heart had stopped dead in her chest as he inquired: "Where d'you suppose we ought hang the mistletoe?"

"Um..." Pandora mumbled, feeling abruptly light headed at the sudden wave of imaginings that flooded her brain...

She tried to stop wondering what it would feel like to kiss Jeff Fawley before the thought could fully form, and promptly failed somewhat dismally. She scrambled around the vivid imaginings in order to find her voice and utter: "A...above the door, maybe?"

And Jeff, entirely oblivious to her sudden and alarming thoughts, grinned and agreed:

"Yes, we'll catch them all coming in! Ha! Come and hold a chair again so I don't fall and crack my head open..."

Standing holding rather limply onto the chair in question a moment later, Pandora tried not to look up to watch him tie the mistletoe in place because looking up made her feel dizzy...

She looked up anyway.

Pandora hadn't really kissed anybody before. Not properly, anyway. She hadn't wanted to much, either. It just hadn't ever really occurred to her before: kissing. She'd never been all that curious and she'd never really liked anybody enough to think about kissing them...

Except she really liked Jeff...

She wasn't in love with him. Obviously. Probably not. Only a little. She just really wanted to kiss him...really, really wanted to kiss him...

Because you didn't have to be in love with somebody too much to kiss them, surely? You probably didn't have to even like them that much...

That didn't really matter. Because she really, really liked Jeff. That was enough, wasn't it? Enough for a kiss?

Of course she couldn't actually kiss him, that would be silly...wonderful...wonderfully silly...

He'd be a good kisser. He was a good kisser, she was sure of it. How could he not be? He was just perfect, he smiled and laughed and he was very handsome. How could somebody like that be bad at kissing?

They couldn't, obviously...

And he had very nice lips. He was biting his bottom lip now in concentration as he tied a tight knot of thread around the sprig of mistletoe.

Pandora felt herself give an involuntary shiver...

She jumped a little when a moment later he had hopped back down off the chair and triumphantly announced:

"There! All set!" He reached to push the chair back against the wall as she stared somewhat dumbly at him, before motioning to the mistletoe and suggesting: "You can be the first victim, eh?" And with that he leant forward to peck her upon the cheek...

And as she watched him lean closer and closer, as if time had slowed to an agonising crawl, Pandora felt all reasonable thought, or indeed any type of thought at all disappear from her head...

And with that the girl found herself lurching forward until she could crush their lips together.  
Jeff leapt backwards so violently that he very nearly tripped over his own feet, and Pandora felt utter panic and humiliation douse her in ice that left her to freeze.

His eyes had grown as wide as snitches and he suddenly seemed a little short of breath as he simply gawped at her.  
"P...Pandora..." he managed after a horribly long pause, and Pandora screwed her eyes shut and hurriedly said in a voice far too high pitched to be her own:

"Sorry! Sorry, I...I didn't mean to, I just...well..."

"Listen, Pandora, you..." Jeff said, sounded bordering on angry, only to be interrupted as a voice from back in the entrance hall to call:

"Clear the way, Jeff, we're bringing out the nibbles!"

As Jeff stumbled sideways to allow a crowd of people bearing food to pass him, Pandora too shuffled sideways, watching numbly as he reached to rake a startled hand through his hair, attempting to plaster a grin onto his face as the others passed him.

Pandora thought she was probably about to cry. She probably looked like it, too, but she didn't think she cared. She'd already ruined everything, what did it matter now? For the love of Merlin, what had come over her?! And the way Jeff had reacted! Merlin...she'd not be coming back here again, there was no chance! He'd want rid of her, he'd hate her. Because she was a silly little girl and he loved Rovena bloody Luga because she had loads of money and...stupidly tight clothing and...and massive boobs and...

A hand had reached to grab hold of her almost painfully by the elbow and Pandora jumped a little to suddenly find herself being towed firmly across the room towards the bathroom door.

"Inside, quick." Jeff instructed swiftly as he pushed open the door and once the two of them were inside he pushed the door shut again, flattening himself up against it as if the shock had struck him all over again now that they were away from preying eyes.

Pandora didn't turn to look at him. She didn't think she could bear it.

"You're crying, Pan." Jeff informed her after a moment, and at last she chanced a glance round at him to find he had one hand pressed across his mouth, eying her worriedly. "G...grab a tissue, eh? You...you'll get m...mascara or whatever it is all...all over your face..."

Pandora went to grab a fistful of tissue from the dispenser beside the toilet and half-buried her face in it.

"Listen," Jeff said after giving himself another moment to attempt to compose himself. "I...I don't know...I don't know if I've...if I've ever suggested or...or indicated to you that I...that I..." he trailed off and Pandora dared to look at him again as he sighed heavily, raking a frustrated hand through his hair. "Listen," he said again, and Pandora felt an odd urge to laugh despairingly because she couldn't possibly think of interrupting him, she wouldn't have a clue what to say. "This is...I'm with Rovena, Pan. Remember?"

Pandora really did cry, then, scrunching up the tissue in her fists in frustration as he went on:

"I'm with Rovena and I love her..."

"Sh...she's a...a stuck up cow!" Pandora complained, for a moment not caring that she was being rude. "Everyone thinks so! It's...it's true!"

"Excuse me?!" Jeff sounded deeply offended, but Pandora felt so exhausted by the steady building up of emotions over the past few months that now they had boiled over so disastrously she couldn't quite care if she was being rude or not.

"You could do better!" she insisted, and his hands came to slap against the door behind him in anger as he snapped:

"What the bloody hell do you know about anything?! You're just a girl!"

Pandora felt as if she had been punched in the chest. She simply stared at him in silence and he drew in a deep, calming breath, again reaching to tug frustratedly at his hair.

"You're...you're just a girl, Pan." he told her again, calmer this time. "You...you don't know what it's like to...to be in love."

"I...I m...might..."

"No you don't! You're...you're sixteen years old, for goodness sake! Pan! What...what in Merlin's name would...would your father have to say if...if he knew what you just did?! You're...that's practically...if anybody saw!" He paused to draw in a deep breath before reminding her: "You're sixteen and I...I'm twenty three. Just...just think about...think about that, eh? That's...that's not...not something that people would...I mean...you could get me in trouble..."

"With Rovena?"

"With everybody! People wouldn't like it! Even...even if I wasn't with Rovena! I'd...I'd have your father down here threatening to hex me into the middle of next week, for goodness sake! You're still young enough you know, people'll think I'm...I'm some sort of...of bloody pervert or something!"

Pandora looked keenly down at her shoes. Jeff had to pause to tug anxiously at his hair again for a moment before telling her:

"I...I don't know where all...all this...whatever it is...I don't know where all of this came from, Pan, I really don't. But if...if I did something or...or said something...! I had no idea you were...I didn't mean for you to get any...any silly ideas in your head, alright? That's the last thing I want. We're good friends, right? I like you very much, you're a nice girl and everything. But...but that out there just now...! It's just a...a silly crush, alright? You'll see, it's nothing! Now...now I like being friends with you, you know? So...so let's just...let's not ruin anything by...by acting rashly. Let's just dry your eyes and...and go back out there like nothing happened. Have a great party! How does that sound?"

"Do you hate me?" Pandora wondered miserably, still staring at her shoes, and she heard him take a few steps forward, his hand coming to hover over her arm, only to apparently think better of touching her.

"Of course I don't. It's...I'm very flattered, alright? You're very sweet. But I don't want anybody getting any funny ideas...especially not you! Like I said, I love Rovena very much. She's...nobody gives her much of a chance! But she's...really great and...and you're lovely too but...but I'm with Rovena and one day you'll have forgotten all about this silly crush and be with...with some guy and...and I'll be the first one to tell him what a lucky man he is! Alright? Now come on! They'll be wondering where we were!"

Pandora didn't want to go outside and join the party. She wanted to go home, curl up in a ball in her bed and sob herself to sleep until the tears filled up the bedroom and drowned her.

She'd imagined kissing Jeff so many times over the past few weeks, caught herself daydreaming wildly about all the wonderful things he might secretly think about her, dreaming of a day where he'd confess that he didn't really love Rovena at all because he'd fallen for Pandora the moment he'd laid eyes upon her, just like she had him.

She hadn't really realised how silly and extreme the whole thing had become. Not until she really had tried to kiss him. Not until she'd watch him leap away from her as if she were poisonous. Not until he'd told her that it was all downright silly...

She managed to dry her eyes a little and wandered back out into the hall after him, and as he hastily disappeared off to greet the others who were steadily growing in number, Pandora went to find herself a chair in a corner, where she spent the following hour watching new arrivals laughing at being caught under the mistletoe and offering one another vague pecks upon the cheek before entering the room. To the disappointment of Gareth and Sebastian who arrived just behind her, Hallie didn't notice the mistletoe at all for she was too busy prancing into the room as an old Weird Sisters hit from back in the 90s blared into life from the record player. Before long the party was in full swing, generous amounts of mulled wine, butterbeer and a number of suspect looking spirits had been consumed and the squibs all seemed to be having a marvellous evening. Pandora did her best to look cheerful and had even consented to letting Rochelle and Hallie drag her up to dance with them. The pair seemed tipsy enough that her half-hearted dancing didn't seem to worry them much, Rochelle kept grabbing Pandora by the hands and twirling them around, whilst Hallie seemed to find music of all kinds utterly hilarious because she seemed incapable of stopping her hysterical laughter. Jeff, Pandora noted, kept a safe distance from her all evening, and she found herself both despairing an glad at this observation, until one record crackled to a halt and one of the older men went to replace it with a new one. Catching sight of Jeff slipping through the crowds towards the toilets, Rochelle half-launched herself at him, grabbing him by the arm as she cried:

"Jeff! Dance with me!"

"You've got to be kidding," Jeff laughed, pausing to down the last of his drink, some sort of acid-green spirit that made Pandora flinch. "You're more than a little drunk and you'll stamp on my toes!"

And to Pandora's mortification Rochelle let out an indignant huff before dragging Jeff forward until he was stood at Hallie's side and demanded:

"Well give Pan a dance, then! She's too young to be anything but stone cold sober and she's being a miserable git! Somebody needs to persuade her to dance properly!"

Jeff looked distinctly horrified at the suggestion, but as the record player crackled back into life Hallie insisted:

"Go on, then!"

Jeff held out a reluctant hand, quickly plastering a fresh grin upon his face.

"Come on then, Pan!" he agreed, managing to fake an impressive level of enthusiasm. "You'll have to show me though, I can't dance to save my life!"

The music, an embarrassingly slow number which from what Pan could tell had been recorded at some point during the Prehistoric period, warranted not much more than an awkward shuffle around the makeshift dance floor. Jeff rested on hand upon her elbow, as close to her waist as he was apparently prepared to venture, and with his other hand laced their fingers together, holding a reasonable distance between the two of them as they moved. Pandora fixed her gaze at a point just below his jaw because any higher and she might catch a glimpse of his expression. It was, the girl realised, probably going to be the most awkward few minutes of her entire life.

But after a little while they both seemed a little less stiff, a little more comfortable, and as the chorus rose in tempo they set about a messy routine of shuffles and kicks, narrowly avoiding one another's knees until she accidentally caught him in the ankle, and instead of awkwardness the two of them were laughing.

"Sorry..." she mumbled, drowned out by the music, and he reached to raise their hands up above her head so that she could give an enthusiastic twirl, only overbalance a little and stumble into his shoulder. By the time they had repositioned themselves the gap between them was marginal and Pandora found herself at last daring to stare up at his face. As they went back to their less hazardous shuffling from side to side, Jeff offered her a vague smile. When she made to look back down again her chin bumped against his chest and he hastily put a good distance between them again. Pandora wished the simply move hadn't made her feel so suddenly shattered...

"Pandora!" Nancy's voice called above the noise of the music and the dancers, and Jeff took this as an opportunity to hastily drop Pandora's hand. Disappointed, Pandora turned to find Nancy stood over by the double doors, waving a hand above her head to catch Pandora's attention. It was then that Pandora spotted the familiar figure of her sister stood just behind Nancy. Imogen was still in her fancy lacy blouse and skirt that she'd donned for her evening out with Jamie. Apparently she had come straight here on time for once...

….early even, Pandora discovered from a brief glance at the clock upon the wall. Very early. It was eleven o'clock!

"Merry Christmas, Jeff." Pan mumbled as she looked back round at the man before her, and Jeff smiled brightly, probably glad to escape she thought, replying:

"Merry Christmas, Pan!" he told her, reaching to pat her gingerly upon the arm, and Pandora turned to offer Hallie and Rochelle a wave, though she wasn't sure they saw her.

"You're early," she told Imogen a moment later once she had made her way through the crowd of dancers to the edge of the room.

"Yes, alright!" Imogen muttered irritably, apparently in a startlingly bad mood for someone who had just spent an enjoyable evening out on the town. Pandora felt as if she was probably hearing things, so as Imogen turned on her heel and set about leading her way back through the hall towards the exit, the younger sister clarified:

"Half an hour early..."

"So you miss half a bloody hour!" Imogen snapped, reaching to thrust the door open, the blast of cold air making Pandora shiver as she hastily pulled on her coat. "So what?! The world doesn't bloody revolve around you, Pan!"

Pandora opened her mouth to do her duty as a sibling and snap back at her when Imogen stepped outside reaching to bury her face in her hands, her shoulders hunched.

"Are you alright, Im?" Pandora asked, stepping up beside her sister to get a better look at her. Imogen's long chestnut locks, so carefully arranged before she had gone out that evening, were looking distinctly ruffled and as she let her hands fall back to her sides through the dim light of the lamp beside the door Pandora thought the make up around her eyes looked smudged, her eyes watery.

Imogen gave a sniff, reaching to straighten the cloak around her shoulders.

"I'm fine, Pan." she insisted, not sounding fine in the slightest. "It's just...it's just well..." She screwed her eyes shut for a moment, gritting her teeth in an attempt to keep her composure and Pandora found herself wishing that she could have done the same earlier back in the bathroom with Jeff.

"It's Jamie." Imogen said at last, giving her head a defiant little toss that left her expression abruptly murderous rather than broken.

"What about him?"

"He's a right bastard, that's what!"

"Have you had a row?" Pandora wondered wearily, thinking that she was never sure how she felt about Jamie when he had a row with Imogen. It was difficult to decide whether or not he had boundless courage or just sheer stupidity.

Imogen gave a distinctly bitter laugh.

"Oh, and the rest!" she said, which Pandora found rather unhelpful as an explanation, and then she said: "Come on, let's just go home!"

They apparated home and let themselves into the dark house. Imogen went to switch the lights on in the sitting room before collapsing down upon the sofa, and Pandora went to turn the lights on in the hall and kitchen, calling:

"D'you want tea, Im?"

"Yeah...yeah alright."

As she boiled water in the kettle and splashed milk into a couple of mugs, Pandora wondered if she might tell her sister about her dreadful evening and her awful blunder with Jeff and the mistletoe. She quickly decided not to, it was just too embarrassing even for Imogen to hear, and what was more, Imogen seemed to have enough trouble to be dealing with herself.

"What time are Mum and Dad coming back, Im?" Pandora called a few minutes later as she poured the tea into the mugs.

Imogen didn't reply.

"Immy? I said when are Mum and Dad coming back?"

Again, Imogen didn't reply.

Sighing, Pandora picked up the two cups of tea and made a beeline for the sitting room.

"Did you hear, Immy?" she asked as she stepped into the room. "What time are Mum and..." she trailed off at the sight before her.

Imogen was lying upon the sofa, hugging a cushion to her chest as she buried her face in the top of it, silently sobbing. Pandora hastily abandoned the mugs of tea on the coffee table and went to perch upon the sofa at Imogen's side, reaching to grasp hold of her by the shoulder.

"Im, what's wrong?!" she asked, alarmed when Imogen only let out a fresh, far more audible sob.

"Oh Pan!" the young witch cried, reaching to hug her sister's arm tightly, the cushion falling abandoned upon the floor. "Th...that...that stupid bitch has...has gone and ruined everything and...and made me look like...like a fool!"

"Who?" Pandora asked, attempting to prise her arm free with little success, only for Imogen to exclaim:

"Martina Marshall!"

"The Harpies' star chaser?" Pandora recalled, frowning deeply. "Isn't she your favourite player?"

This only seemed to make Imogen sob harder than ever.

"Shall I send an owl to Nana Dora?" Pandora wondered, feeling rather alarmed to be left to deal with such hysteria on her own, and Imogen sniffed and asked:

"H...has...has Nana D...Dora ever...ever been t...taken for a total idiot and...and had her heart ch...chewed up and...and spat back out again?!"

"I don't know..." Pandora mumbled. "But...but does it matter? I mean I haven't..."

"It's been going on for...for MONTHS!"

"What has?"

"J...Jamie and...and that bitch! I...I know it has, I m...I made him tell me!"

"Merlin..."

"H...he's been seeing her behind my back f...for ages and...and in...in September when...when he was in Spain...I was off work, there weren't any matches on, remember?!"

"Mm..."

"D'you know w...why there weren't any bloody matches on?!

"No..."

"Because you can't play Quidditch when your bloody star player has...has buggered off to Spain w...with my bloody boyfriend s...so they can spend a...a bloody week or so in a hotel room shagging one another bloody senseless!"

Pandora felt as if she had taken a beater's bat to the head.

"What a bastard!" she cried, utterly appalled at the mere idea, and Imogen struggled against a fresh sob to tell her:

"And...and they've been s...seeing each other the whole time since they got back! I found a pair of...of knickers down the side of the sofa at his flat! I asked him where they came from and...and he told me everything! He...he says he was...he says he was bored! Bored! He only likes her because she's some...some big shot Quidditch player! She's as thick as two short planks, I swear it, she left Hogwarts with a Quidditch Captain's badge and barely an OWL, let alone a NEWT! He said he was going to tell me after Christmas! Said he'd been bloody planning on it since...since my latest application to the Harpies got turned down last month!"

Pandora opened her mouth to make a suitably disgusted exclamation when there came the sound of knocking at the front door. Imogen promptly buried her face in her arms with a moan and so Pandora patted her gingerly upon the arm and muttered:

"Don't worry I'll get it."

As she wandered out into the hallway Pandora wondered who on earth would be calling at such a late hour. Were they mad?!

When she pulled open the door to reveal a distinctly nervous looking Jamie Macmillan, Pandora could only conclude that yes, they certainly were.


	6. The Squib Pride March

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**6: The Squib Pride March**

Pandora stared at the wizard stood upon the doorstep for a long moment, as he stood, shoulders a little hunched and his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his leather jacket, before Jamie Macmillan offered her a small smile and opened his mouth to speak...

"What do you want?" Pandora asked before he could speak, folding her arms firmly across her chest and offering him a scowl. "If my sister sees you here she'll bloody well hex that stupid smile off your face!"

"I just want a word with Immy, Pan, that's all..." Jamie began, as if he hadn't really heard her threat, and Pandora gave a snort and informed him bluntly:

"Well she doesn't want a word with you. Now get off of our doorstep before my dad comes home and I tell him what you've been up to behind Imogen's back!"

"Look," Jamie said, hands balling into tight fists in his pockets, "I need to talk to Imogen and it's none of your bloody business whether she wants to talk to me or not! Let her decide that herself!"

"Why?" Pandora asked, leaning forward a little so that she could glare at him. "I can't imagine what you could possibly have to say that she would want to hear..."

"This is bloody ridiculous!" Jamie snapped, taking a step forward so that he could peer past her into the hallway: "IMMY?!"

"You're right, it is." Pandora agreed, reaching for the door. "I think I'm going to shut the door in your face..."

"You're bloody not!"

"Goodbye, then..."

"Wait!"

Despite her annoyance that her efforts to shut the door were halted by Jamie jamming his foot in the way, Pandora felt rather satisfied by his pained wince as his foot narrowly avoided being crushed.

"Listen Jamie," the squib told the wizard impatiently, "I don't have time to chat, I just made a cup of tea and it's getting cold. Why don't you do us all a favour and go running back to that silly tart of yours?"

"She's not a silly tart!"

"Of course she is, Jamie! She's a...a pair of big boobs on a broomstick! My sister is worth ten of her at least! Not that it matters, you're much too shallow to realise that. You only like Martina because she's some big shot Quidditch player...do you have any idea how ridiculous that makes you sound?"

"Just let me talk to Imogen, for Merlin's sake!" Jamie demanded, giving the door a furious push, only for a voice from the bottom of the driveway to call:

"What's going on?!"

At the sight of her parents making their way up the driveway towards them, Pandora pulled the door open as Jamie scrambled to yank his foot free.

"Alright, Jamie love?" Carrie called as the young wizard spun around to face her.

"Evening, Mrs. Lupin..." Jamie greeted, sounding abruptly nervous. "What...what a...a pretty dress, you're looking rather lovely..."

"Everything alright, Pan?" Teddy asked as Carrie offered the suddenly pale Jamie a bright smile, and Pandora scowled and informed her father:

"Not really, Dad, Jamie's refusing to leave!"

"I...I was just going, actually..." Jamie announced hurriedly, much to Teddy and Carrie's bemusement, and Carrie offered:

"You can come in for a cup of tea if you like!"

"No he can't!" Pandora insisted coldly, only for her father to scold:

"Pan, _really_!"

"Don't be silly, love," Carrie said as Jamie took a step away from the door. "Why ever not?!"

"Because he's been shagging Martina Marshall for the last Merlin knows how many months!" Pandora announced frankly, causing Jamie to flinch.

There was a distinctly stunned silence as Teddy and Carrie exchanged a glance, before they both turned to stare at the accused, who took another couple of steps backwards.

"It...it's not...it's not what it sounds like..." Jamie mumbled, gaze flickering somewhat nervously to Teddy's pockets, as if expecting himself to be confronted with a drawn wand.

"Is it not?" the Auror observed dryly, folding his arms firmly across his chest.

"N...not in the slightest, Mr. Lupin..."

"I can't imagine what else it could possibly mean..." Teddy admitted, and Carrie reached to press a somewhat warning hand against her husband's arm, before hastily making a beeline for the front door.

"Inside, Pan!" the muggle hissed, much to her daughter's annoyance, and as they shuffled back from the doorway Pandora heard her father decide:

"I think you had better leave."

"Y...yes, Mr. Lupin..."

"Now, please."

"Yes..."

Jamie made for the pavement at an almost-jog, only to pause when Teddy called after him:

"Jamie?"

The young man turned reluctantly to look back at the Auror, who was still stood, his arms folded firmly across his chest as he instructed cooly:

"Stay away from my daughter."

They found Imogen still lying upon the sofa in the sitting room, sobbing silently into a cushion, and as Carrie went to perch upon the chair, reaching to put an arm around the girl, Pandora watched Teddy back out in the hallway as he slammed the front door shut, before shrugging off his cloak.

"That's it, I've had enough!" the wizard announced to his younger daughter somewhat grimly as he reached to hang the cloak up upon a hook on the wall. "No more boyfriends, either of you! Not until you're at least thirty five!"

"Oh Teddy, be quiet!" Carrie snapped from the living room and as he went to stand in the doorway, reaching to pull Pandora into a one-armed hug, Teddy sighed heavily.

"Immy knows I'm joking, don't you Sweetheart?" he said as Imogen paused in her sobbing to raise her head a little to peer over at her father.

"Doesn't matter!" the watery eyed witch half-choked. "I...I won't f...find an...anyone else a...anyway!"

"Of course you will, love!" Carrie said, reaching to stroke her hair soothingly. "Don't say that..."

"They'll be queuing round the block to date you, Im." Teddy said as Carrie reached to fish a handkerchief out of her pocket, dabbing at Imogen's face with it as the girl gave a miserable sniff. "It's going to be utter chaos, we'll have to send Pan out there to make sure they form an orderly line and there isn't any pushing and shoving!"

Imogen managed a somewhat garbled half-chuckle, only to complain:

"I...I thought he...I thought he loved m...me!"

"Did you, Sweetheart?" Carrie murmured sympathetically, easing the girl up into a sitting position so that Imogen's head could rest upon her shoulder. "And it felt wonderful, didn't it?"

"Y...yes!"

"Well then, just imagine what you've got to look forward to, now he's gone. Just you wait until you meet the man who truly does love you, just imagine how even more wonderful that will feel!"

"It's not going to happen, Mum. Nobody's g...going to want m...me...I'm...I'm useless!"

"Nonsense, love..."

"Y...yes I am! Even D...Dad says so..."

"Dad's inherited a love of melodrama from your grandmother, Sweetheart. He doesn't think you're useless in the slightest, do you Ted?"

"Of course I don't!" Teddy said, "I'm extremely proud of my girls, the pair of you! You've an awful lot going for you, Im, you're a talented, bubbly girl and any moron with half a brain can see it!"

"I'm not talented. I'm...I'm not even a...a good flyer!"

"Hufflepuff hadn't won that Quidditch cup in an age before you showed up at Hogwarts, Im! For goodness sake, you're an excellent flyer!"

"Yeah? Well I...I don't want to...to look at a broomstick ever again! Not ever!"

"Oh Imogen..."

"I...if I was...was a good flyer n...none of this would've happened!"

"I know, love, but..."

"A...and you d...didn't help, Dad! Y...you never l...liked him!"

"Now come on, Im..."

"A...and N...Nana never did, either!"

"Nana doesn't really like anyone, Immy." Pandora pointed out, bemused by the sudden torrent of accusations.

"Nana hasn't even met him, love..."

"How w...was he e...ever going to feel welcome when you...when you don't even try to...to like him?!"

"That's not fair, love, we've always been nice to him..."

"You're always n...nagging me about...about everything!" Imogen shrieked, reaching to grasp full of clumps of chestnut hair in agitation. "A...and...and you never helped m...me with Quidditch, either! You never let me h...have a decent broom!"

"I bought you a perfectly decent one for your sixteenth birthday," Teddy insisted, growing irritated by her sudden temper. "If you wanted a new one you're perfectly old enough to save up and buy it yourself!"  
"See!" Imogen cried, utterly hysterical. "See! You...you won't help and...and now look what's happened!"

"You said yourself he didn't love you for being you, Im." Pandora pointed out, utterly bemused by her sister's rapidly twisting logic. "Why in Merlin's name would you want him to like you just for Quidditch?!"

"Because!" Imogen screeched, leaping to her feet, her hands balling into fists. "I LOVED HIM!"

And with that she ran from the room, bursting into fresh tears as she stomped up the stairs. As they heard her bedroom door slam shut a moment later, Pandora complained:

"She's not making any sense."

"Love doesn't make any sense, Pan." Teddy admitted, taking a step towards the stairs, only for Carrie to murmur:

"Leave her, love. Let her calm down."

Instead, Teddy made a beeline for the kettle in the kitchen, and as she retrieved her own now luke warm tea, Pandora confessed to her mother:

"Falling in love sounds dreadfully scary, Mum."

"Of course it is, Sweetheart." Carrie agreed with a small smile as she rose to her feet. "But I shouldn't worry about it, not quite yet."

Pandora felt like saying that she was already quite terrified and in over her head already, but she didn't want to mention her disastrous evening to her parents at all. After all, it seemed that one broken hearted daughter was more than enough for Teddy and Carrie for one night.

"Try and get to bed now, won't you love?" Carrie said as she headed after Teddy to the kitchen. "It's getting very late."

Pandora reluctantly headed up to her bedroom to get changed for bed, and once she had done so she found herself in need of a glass of water to take to bed. She crept back across the landing so as not to disturb Imogen, and headed downstairs, only to pause at the bottom to peer into the kitchen where she spied her father stood at the kitchen sink, leaning heavily against the countertop, his head bowed as he murmured:

"I think I want to kill him."

As she took a step up behind him, reaching to slide her hands up his back to rest upon his shoulders, Carrie admitted:

"I think that's probably natural."

"What're we going to do?"

"What d'you mean?"

"With Immy. What are we going to do with her?"

Carrie's forehead came to rest against the wizard's back as she sighed heavily and mumbled:  
"She'll be alright. She just needs a bit of time, that's all."

There was a long pause as Teddy sighed heavily before complaining:

"I can't believe he showed up here like that and I didn't hex him..."

Carrie let out a rather despairing laugh.

"Come here." she said, straightening up so that she could pull him round to face her. The muggle rose up on her toes to press a kiss to his lips and as he reached to wrap his arms around her, Teddy mumbled:

"Should've had boys, Carrie."

"Mm..."

"Much easier..."

"Think your parents would have something to say about that."

The wizard groaned, his face buried in his wife's hair.

"Merlin, I think I need a drink!"

"You've had plenty enough already." Carrie laughed, fingers raking through his sandy hair. "Jasmine was trying to get you plastered!"

"It was revenge. She was sulking because I didn't bring Mum with us. Reckons she'll be out the job herself before long so she fancied pretending it was the old days again."

"Well she didn't bring Isaac!"

"Isaac barely leaves the house these days, I heard."

"Poor man..."

"I think if I had been dating Jasmine Wickes for Merlin knows how many years I would want to lock myself away and hide too."

"Don't be dreadful, Ted!" Carrie laughed, reaching to lace their fingers together before giving him a slight tug towards the kitchen doorway. "Come on, let's get to bed! I'm utterly exhausted, these heels are killing me..."

Pandora passed them in the hallway where she paused to permit them peck her upon the cheek with a murmured goodnight, and as she retrieved a glass from the cupboard a moment later the girl found herself musing that she felt utterly exhausted too.

What a night, she thought dully as she stared blankly out at the darkness through the kitchen window.

Pandora wondered quite how she managed to drag herself out of bed the following morning when her mother called her for breakfast. She lay in bed for some half an hour, feeling as if a night's sleep had done little to cheer her after the night before. She wondered if she might ever bear to go to SEWS again and the prospect of not going made her feel yet more miserable. When she finally consented to wandering downstairs in her slippers and dressing gown, she found her parents sat around the table in the dining room, sipping cups of tea and eating croissants with strawberry jam.

"It's about time one of you made an appearance!" Carrie said with a smile. "At this rate Dad and I will have to go to Diagon Alley on our own!" When Pandora merely blinked somewhat blankly at her as she dropped down into a chair, the muggle consented to elaborating: "Christmas shopping, Pan!"

"Oh...right..."

"Don't sound too enthusiastic, Sweetheart." Teddy murmured through a mouthful of croissant, and Carrie asked:

"Is Imogen up and about yet, love?"

"Doubt it." Pandora mumbled glumly, and Teddy rose from his chair, dusting crumbs from his fingers.

"I'll give her a call, shall I?" he suggested, and with that he disappeared through the kitchen and out into the hall.

Talk around the breakfast table turned to Christmas presents and Pandora found herself entirely unconcerned by the upcoming festivities. She was pretty sure that she had never felt less Christmasy than she did just then, and she very nearly sighed when Teddy rejoined them at the table and joined in the conversation.

It was almost a relief when Imogen appeared in the doorway some ten minutes later.

At the sight of her, the table fell instantly silent.

Pandora simply stared, croissant halfway to her mouth.

Because there stood Imogen, wrapped up in her fluffy white dressing gown, smudged make up around her eyes, face blotchy and pink...

And her hair...! Her hair was...!

"Oh, Immy!" the young witch's mother exclaimed, reaching to press a hand to her mouth as she surveyed the short, choppy, messy strands where just the evening before there had been long, wavy locks. "What have you..."

"Cup of tea, Sweetheart?" Teddy asked a little too loudly in an effort to drown his wife out, and Pandora watched in shock as her sister shuffled silently forward to drop down into a chair beside her.

Imogen looked as if she had been attacked by a pair of gardening sheers. Pandora couldn't stop staring...

"Pan," Teddy said meaningfully, giving the girl a nudge with his foot under the table. "Why don't you go and pour your sister a cup of tea in the kitchen?"

It wasn't just Imogen's hair that changed drastically from that day onwards, indeed Pandora found over the next few months that her big sister really didn't seem like her big sister at all. Though Carrie had coaxed her into town to have her hair cut professionally, Imogen kept her hair short and frequently untidy. She took to wearing nothing but slightly ill-fitting jeans and t shirts, locked her broomstick away in the cupboard under the stairs to gather dust, refused to go back to work at the Quidditch stadium and spent the majority of her time up in her bedroom, drowning out the rest of the world with pounding music that made her father persistently irritable. Come February she had started to half-heartedly apply for jobs, but seemed quite at a loss as to what to do with herself.

In contrast, Pandora found herself snowed under with revision for her GCSE exams, and she spent the vast majority of her time either revising with the help of Libby in the sitting room or, when she could, attending SEWS in the evenings. Sometimes she took her homework with her and, to her delight, Jeff would sit and test her on dates and events for History or Shakespeare quotes for English. Her first trip to SEWS after the disaster of a Christmas party had twisted Pandora's stomach into knots and she had been worried at the reception Jeff might give her. But he appeared to have quite forgotten the whole incident, in fact he seemed to have been struck with a burst of enthusiasm for a new idea that, he said, had struck him on the way home from the Christmas party.

"I was thinking of your grandfather, Pan." he'd informed Pandora when she had seen him and noted a distinct spring in his step.

"My...my grandfather?"

"Exactly! Your grandfather and the Order of the Phoenix! I was thinking about that march of theirs...the one they do each summer..."

"The Phoenix Day Parade?"

"Yes, exactly! And I was thinking...we should do one!"

"Our own Phoenix Day Parade...?"

"No, our own march! Right through Diagon Alley! A Squib Pride March, can you imagine? It would be such fun and it would be just perfect to raise awareness and...and show the world! Show them all what we're about and...and that we're perfectly happy being who we are! We could raise money for the society and...and I bet we'd make the front page of the Prophet! Just like the Order does!"

"It sounds like an awful lot of fun..." Pandora agreed uncertainly, and Jeff had grinned broadly and announced:

"I knew you'd say that! It's going to be brilliant, you can help, we'll have to make ourselves a...a load of banners and flags and that sort of thing!"

And so the meetings at SEWS became dominated by the sewing of flags, the planning of routes, the practicing of music and the excited practicing of marching by the children, their persistent stomping up and down the road outside the hall becoming a frequent occurrence come rain or shine. The local muggle residents seemed to think that they had acquired a particularly raucous troupe of boy Scouts and there were frequent complaints about the noise, which Jeff seemed to find amusing rather than anything else. He was, Pandora thought, a brilliant organiser, and his energy and enthusiasm for this latest little project seemed utterly infectious.

Pandora was quite sure she was falling for him worse than ever. She seemed to spend the vast majority of her time at SEWS simply watching him flit around the room as he talked to people. His smile, should he care to shoot it her way, made her heart flutter and his laughter made it melt away entirely. And sometimes, when she let her imagination get the better of her, she felt as if he might just really like her too. He always included her in discussions with the adults, always asked her how things were going at school, always seemed to find the time to help her with her homework. He'd even presented her with a large slab of chocolate tied up in a bow upon discovering that her first round of exams had gone better than she had expected, and he'd gone around telling everyone about it as if he were terribly proud of her.

Rovena Luga would show up at SEWS every once in a while, inevitably to drag Jeff away from the others for a while and every time she watched the insufferable woman lead him out of the room with a hand upon his elbow, Pandora would fail to hide her scowl. She spent far too long attempting to decipher precisely what it was about Rovena that had Jeff so besotted, drawing very few conclusions indeed, instead telling herself that it was only a matter of time before Jeff saw Rovena for what she really was; a bad-tempered, self-centred little cow who seemed incapable of being polite to anyone at all.

The day of the Squib Pride Parade dawned and Pandora rose before the rest of the house could wake, the excitement of the day ahead making any further sleep impossible. Determined not to be late, for she was keen to arrive early enough to plant herself firmly at Jeff's side at the front of the march, she hurried downstairs and made four cups of tea, which she wasted no time in carrying upstairs on a tray.

"Wake up!" she demanded as she kicked open the door to her parents' bedroom, eliciting a loud groan of protest from her father. "It's march day! Wake up, Dad!"

"Pandora," her mother pointed out with a yawn as Teddy reached to bury his head under a pillow. "It's barely past seven and Dad's been on a night shift..."

"Look, I've made you a cup of tea!" Pandora announced, ignoring her mother entirely as she set the tray down upon her father's bedside table with a bang, causing him to mutter irritably. "Hurry up and drink it before it gets cold! I'm going to floo Nana and Grandad, make sure they're up..."

"Don't you dare floo anybody, Pan!" Carrie exclaimed as the girl turned and bolted for the stairs again. "It's Sunday, for goodness sake!"

"But I don't want them to miss it!" Pandora shouted back as she thundered down the stairs, and back in the bedroom Teddy muttered:

"I hope Mum bites her head off..."

"Hasn't it been full moon?" Carrie wondered as she leant over him to retrieve her tea, only for Teddy to nearly send it flying as he flung the covers back from him, scrambling out of bed as he shouted:

"PANDORA?! JUST WAIT A MINUTE!"

Pandora, however, had already snatched up a handful of floo powder, and with that she dropped to her knees before the fireplace, tossing the dust into the grate...

When her head materialised in the fireplace in her grandparents' sitting room in a burst of emerald flames a moment later, she found the little room dark and void of life.

"Nana?!" she called, straining in an attempt to look towards the kitchen door. "Grandad?!"

There came the sound of tinkering glasses from the kitchen and after a moment Pandora spied her grandmother shuffling into the room, a tall glass of water in one hand and a bottle of alarmingly orange potion in the other.

"Hello love." the witch greeted, sounding distinctly sleepy. She was dressed in a thick, fleecy night dress of pale grey, a thick woollen shawl about her shoulders, her hair distinctly ruffled. "I was just off back to bed..."

"You haven't forgotten, have you Nana?" Pandora asked, "You remember what day it is, don't you?"

"What?" Dora murmured, sounding slightly bewildered, and Pandora's face was about to fall when the witch gave herself a small shake and decided: "Oh yes! Yes, Pan love. Yes it's...I know what day it is..."

"The parade, Nana!" Pandora reminded her because she couldn't help but not be entirely convinced. "You are coming, aren't you? You and Grandad?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, darling." Dora assured her after a sizeable pause, offering her granddaughter a smile.

"And Grandad? He's not forgotten, has he?"

"He's...not _forgotten_, no..." Dora pursed her lips firmly together for a long moment in consideration before reminding the girl: "But it was full moon last night, you see...you know how it is, don't you? I'm sure he'd have loved to have come and watched! But I'll...I'll definitely pop over for a little! Um...remind me love...where...?"

"Diagon Alley, Nana." Pandora said, failing not to sound a little exasperated.

"Of course. Obviously...and um...when abouts...?"

"At ten o'clock this morning! I told you just the other day!"  
"Alright, love! You get to my age, you know, you start forgetting these things..."

"You said you'd written it on the calender!"

"Did I?" Dora glanced over at the wall where the offending calender hung, frowning a little as she murmured: "Well, fancy that!"

"You won't be late, will you Nana?" Pandora pressed, feeling excitement bubbling in her stomach.

"Of course I won't."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die, Sweetheart."

"Dad says you ought be dead ten times over for saying that."

"Yeah? Well Dad's got no right to talk, has he? He's been late for Grandad's birthday party two years running!" Reaching to put the potion bottle down on a sideboard so that she could rub a weary hand across her forehead, the witch insisted: "I'll be there on time, Pan. In fact I'll be there early so I can get a decent view, how about that? We could have ice cream afterwards, how does that sound? Is Imogen gracing us with her presence or would she rather sit around moping at home?"

"She promised she'd come when I asked her yesterday." Pandora recalled, not sounding entirely convinced, and Dora sighed and murmured:

"I hope she does, she's not been over to see Grandad or me for near on a month! We're missing her. You tell her that, eh?"

"I will, Nana."

"What's she been doing with herself lately?"

"Nothing, I think."

"Right. Well you make sure she comes today, alright? She needs her Nana to give her a good talking to! And don't tell her I said that, else she'll stay in that room of hers and barricade it shut!" Snatching the potion back up again the witch gave a sigh and confessed: "We've been worried about her. It's not...not right, the way things have been recently..."

"She went and got her nose pierced last weekend." Pandora said, frowning at the memory. "Dad went berserk when he found out!"

"Yes, Mum did mention it...had Grandad raise an eyebrow or two..." Dora trailed off with a deep frown before admitting: "I'm sure that's the least of our worries!" Stifling another yawn she informed her granddaughter: "Listen love, I'm going to go back to bed for an hour or so...it's been a rough night..."

"Why?" Pandora wondered, feeling apprehensive, and her grandmother shook her head.

"Oh it's always a rough night, Pan, when there's a full moon in the sky..."

"Is Grandad alright?"

"Oh yes, yes...nothing out of the ordinary there, I just...well sometimes after he's safely locked away for the night I...sometimes I just feel like..." the witch trailed off with a sigh, shaking her head before trying again. "It's not something you ever get used to, Pan. Going to bed alone, knowing..." she trailed off again with a frown, concluding: "Sometimes I don't manage to get a whole lot of sleep, that's all! Ten o'clock sharp, yes? I'll be there!"

"Alright then!" Pandora said, grinning again. "Bye, Nana!"

"Bye, Sweetheart." Dora mumbled, turning to disappear back across the room towards the bedroom door, and with that Pandora leant backwards, pulling her head out of the fireplace.

She found herself confronted by her dressing gown-clad father, who promptly folded his arms across his chest.

"It's a Sunday morning after full moon, Pan." he pointed out disapprovingly as she got back to her feet, dusting soot from her hair.

"It's alright, Nana was up..."

"Yes, if she hasn't been to bed at all I wouldn't be surprised! Go and run your sister a bath, it's going to be a team effort to persuade her out of her bed this morning!"

Pandora bolted back upstairs to jam the plug in the bath and set the taps gushing, before going to barge unceremoniously into Imogen's room.

"I'm running you a bath, Im!" she announced briskly as Imogen reached to fling her hands up over her face in anticipation of the curtains being thrown open. "And I just spoke to Nana, she says she and Grandad are missing you, and she's looking forward to seeing you this morning at the parade! She's going to buy us ice cream."

Imogen huffed as if she didn't approve of her grandmother's plans in the slightest, before rolling over to face the wall, grunting:

"Get out of my bedroom."

"You are coming, aren't you?" Pandora pressed, much to her sister's annoyance. "You did promise..."

"Only if you get out of my bedroom and leave me in peace." Imogen said, kicking back the covers until she could sit up. Leaning to snatch the wand up from her bedside table, she gave it a vague wave in the direction of the large record player in the corner, and within seconds music was blaring at full volume out of the large speaker, causing Pandora to reach to clamp her hands over her ears, shouting:

"Alright, alright! I'm going!"  
"IMOGEN!" Teddy's voice bellowed up the stairs as with another flick of Imogen's wand the door swung shut behind Pandora. "TURN THAT RACKET DOWN, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"

"It's Sunday morning, Im!" Carrie called from the master bedroom, voice almost entirely muffled by the noise. "Do you want the neighbours to complain?!"

"Just you wait," Teddy grumbled as he appeared at the top of the stairs, making a beeline for the bedroom. "One of these days I'm going to throw that wretched record player of hers out of the window! Go and put the kettle on, won't you Pan? I think we're going to need another cup of tea!"

They managed to arrive in Diagon Alley, Imogen in tow, at a quarter to ten, whereupon the rest of the family went in search of Dora and Pandora headed for the march's designated starting point, a small side street just opposite the Leaky Cauldron. There she found a cluster of squibs already gathered, chattering excitedly and handing out the flags and banners which were in a crate set down in a corner. Rochelle was busy lining up a group of children with a large banner in SEWS chosen colours of green and brown – nature-related colours chosen, Jeff had claimed, because their being Squibs was simply just what Nature had intended. Meanwhile Hallie was stood leaning up against the wall in the corner, engrossed in applying yet more eyeliner, and several of the society's resident musicians were busy tuning their instruments.

"Going to grab yourself a flag, then?" suggested a cheery voice from just behind her, making Pandora jump a little. "Or are you going to fight over the main banner with Katie and Michael when they show up instead?"

Pandora spun around to find Jeff stood just behind her, a large flagpole held firmly in one hand as he grinned down at her, and for a moment she felt somewhat transfixed by the sight of him. He had donned a pair of smart chocolate brown trousers, an open necked pale green shirt and a thick sheepskin jacket, the collar turned up against a fierce early Spring breeze. Pandora felt an odd urge to reach forward to stroke the soft material, or better still lunge forward to hug him.

"Hi!" she greeted, shoving her hands into the pocket of her coat to stop any alarming urges in their tracks, and she felt her cheeks instantly warm when he told her brightly:

"You're looking very smart!"

"Green, like you said!" Pandora said, glancing down at herself with a slight chuckle, and Jeff laughed and exclaimed:

"You're perfect, Pan!"

Pandora knew he meant it in reference to her choice of clothing only, but his passing comment very nearly made he weak at the knees and she laughed probably a little too enthusiastically, only for him to become distracted by somebody shouting his name. A glance over his shoulder later and Jeff had spotted his girlfriend stood just up the road where it joined the main cobbled street. Her dark hair today tied into a long braid down one side of her head, Rovena Luga's lips were coated in their usually thick layer of ruby red lipstick as she shot Jeff a broad smile and a wave.

"Here," Jeff said, turning back to push the flag pole into Pandora's hands. "Keep hold of this for me a moment, won't you? I'll be back in just a second!"

Pandora watched him stride over to Rovena, who promptly reached to dust invisible dust from his jacket, and Pandora turned her back on them before the display could make her stomach clench in disgust. She went to stand with Rochelle who was handing the last of the children their flags, and the two of them commented brightly about the lack of rain and how they had been looking forward to the march that morning. Hallie joined them after a few minutes, chewing on a wad of gum, eyes liberally framed by eyeliner, and the three of them finished herding the children into place just in time for Jeff to return, another flood of SEWS regulars in tow. Once in place and the children had quietened down, leaving just Rochelle and Hallie to giggle near the back, the musicians struck up a tune and the march set off into Diagon Alley and up towards the vast marble steps before Gringott's Bank.

Pandora had somewhat imagined the little procession to be something akin to the Phoenix Day Parade the Order of the Phoenix held in the village of Hogsmeade each year. Indeed, since the number of Order members attending the event had been slowly decreasing over the years, the older members growing too old to march the full distance or indeed some passing away in their old age, the squibs' march was made up of a greater number of people and their musicians were by far more competent, the Order relying solely on the beat of a single drum wielded each year by Charlie Weasley. But as they headed out into Diagon Alley Pandora saw that, where the streets of Hogsmeade would be lined with spectators, just a small number of people had paused in the morning shopping to watch the squibs marching, and where the press descended upon the Phoenix Day Parade in flocks each year, today a lone reported from the Daily Prophet was hurrying along in front of the procession, snapping photographs with his large camera that gave puffs of multicoloured smoke with each click of the shutter. Despite the smaller scale, Pandora felt quite swept up in the occasion, the raucous music and the smiling faces and laughter. Sat upon a low wall outside a distinctly posh robe shop, Pandora saw, were her parents, sister and grandmother, all four of them offered her an enthusiastic wave and Teddy whistled loudly and clapped, which made Pandora have to duck her head against a snigger. Once they had reached the steps of Gringott's the march took a neat u-turn and set off back down the cobbled street, and by the time they reached the end of their designated route Pandora found herself stomping along to the music, arms swinging and laughing along with the rest and as the marchers dispersed back in the side street there was a buzz of excitement and cheer as everyone started talking at once.

"Hallie only went and bloody tripped!" Rochelle was telling anyone who would listen, laughing hysterically, and one of the older women gave a chuckle and admitted:

"It was rather fun, don't you think?"

"I enjoyed it!"

"Can we do it again, Jeff?!"

"We should do it again next year!"

"Did you see that man?! Do you think he was from the Daily Prophet?"

"We're going to be famous!"

"We could make the front page, you know! Imagine that!"

Half-skipping over to Jeff's side, Pandora reached to slap a hand down upon his arm with a grin, exclaiming:  
"Jeff, it was brilliant! Did you see the people all watching us? They were all smiling..."

"They weren't all looking." Jeff mumbled, sounding somewhat dejected as he flung a flag back into the box, and Pandora gave a shrug.

"Who cares? It was fun! Look at how happy everyone is..."

"And one photographer!" Jeff went on as if she hadn't said anything, folding his arms furiously across his chest. "One! Do you have any idea how many letters I wrote?! I wrote to the Quibbler, I wrote to Witch Weekly..."

"But Jeff..."

"Nobody gave a toss!"

"I give a toss..." Pandora mumbled, taken aback by his anger, only for the sound of high heels upon cobbles to draw their attention and Rovena Luga came striding towards them, announcing:  
"Jeff, come! You've been ages, I'm gasping for a drink!"

Jeff gave a distinctly irritated huff, but nevertheless he obediently shoved his hands deep into his pockets and, without so much as a goodbye, stalked off to join her.

Somewhat deflated by Jeff's temper, something that seemed quite alien to her, Pandora headed back out into Diagon Alley in search of her family. She discovered them at a table outside of the ice cream parlour, whereupon her grandmother presented her with a suitably enormous ice cream sundae drizzled in chocolate sauce and topped with a wafer. The little family gathering rather cheered Pandora up and by the time they had dispersed for a wander round the shops some half an hour later she had quite forgotten Jeff and his bad mood. She had tried to coax Imogen into Quality Quidditch Supplies, which had gone down badly, so instead she had wandered off on her own to peer in the window at the Magical Menagerie, only to spy a couple of figures down the alleyway beside the spot that caught her attention.

There stood Jeff, back pressed up against the wall, Rovena Luga seemingly attached to the front of his jacket as she grasped fistfuls of his shirt in her hands, her lips dragging teasingly across his jaw, the mere sight of which made Pandora feel quite sick. Jeff stood motionlessly, seemingly not at all interested in the witch's advances until she had drawn back from him a little with a smirk.

"Well we _are_ in a bad mood today, aren't we?!" Rovena observed with a titter, causing Jeff to turn to stare determinedly away from her, his expression stoic. She leant forward to kiss him again, pressing herself up against him only for him to reach to lay his hands firmly upon her shoulders.

"Rovena, don't..."

"You're being very dull boy, Jeffrey." the witch complained, sounding rather impatient. "You're not being fun..."

"I don't feel like being fun." Jeff grunted, only for Rovena to laugh and exclaim:

"But I do! Come on..." She leant to kiss him again, one hand reaching to drag one of his hands down towards her bust, only for him to warn:

"I mean it, Rovena! I'm not in the bloody mood!"

"Very, very dull! Sulking over nothing!" Rovena teased, tugging harder upon his sleeve, and Pandora was just wrinkling her nose in distaste at the woman well all of a sudden Jeff reaching to grasp hold of the witch by the wrist with such a tight grip that she gasped, and within half a second he had shoved her violently backwards, causing her to stumble in her heels, ankle turning painfully with a shout as she fell backwards upon the cobbles, narrowly avoiding hitting her head.

And to Pandora's shock, rather than leap forward to help her up, Jeff offered his girlfriend a scowl and muttered:

"Bitch!" And with that he turned to stalk off out of the alleyway, the crumpled witch behind him reaching to grasp hold of her ankle with a pained hiss.

And Pandora hastily backed away from the alleyway, her heartbeat thudding in her ears to have Jeff catch sight of her.

But when he did he merely offered the girl a bright smile, entirely unaware of what she had witnessed, and called:

"Alright, Pan?"  
"Alright, Jeff?" Pandora mumbled back.


	7. An Unexpected Guest

_Note: Huge __**Meet the Marauders**__ reference towards the beginning of this chapter! If nobody has a clue what Remus and Dora are on about, and hasn't read Meet the Marauders, feel free to PM me and I can fill you in! Out of laziness I have split this chapter in half, so the action won't really start until next time, I'm afraid. Meanwhile we have this rather boring chapter full of conversations...sorry about that! I hope somebody out there likes it anyway, I know this isn't turning into the most riveting of stories so far! In the next chapter you can expect a lot of fluff and something...really rather shocking! ;-) So hang in there, dear readers!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

**7: An Unexpected Guest**

As time went on it seemed to Pandora that Jeff's enthusiasm for running SEWS seemed distinctly tarnished. He seemed much quieter, less full of energy, and he spent many meetings sat alone in a corner, pouring over books and studying scraps of parchment. When approached he would smile as he had always done, offer some cheerful talk and encouragement, but there seemed something undeniably sad about him.

It made Pandora sad, too.

She'd been wary of him for a little while after his outburst upon the day of the parade. But seeing him so altered, so out of sorts, Pandora had been feeling increasingly pained on his behalf. Indeed she had, on occasion, gone as far as to suspect that Rovena deserved it. Because she was never good to Jeff, after all.

Despite this it seemed that Rovena and Jeff remained an item. Rovena still turned up at SEWS every so often to visit Jeff, and Pandora continued to dislike her. Pandora herself attended SEWS almost every other evening, so keen was she on spending time with Jeff and her new friends, to the point where Jeff would joke that he saw almost more of her there than he saw Rochelle. She spent the majority of her time there sitting with Jeff, chattering away as cheerily as she could in an attempt to lift his spirits, but he seemed quite engrossed with his books and papers, the nature of which she was never entirely sure about. She had asked a couple of times if perhaps he was studying for exams himself, just as she was, and he had simply decided: _It is a test of sorts, I suppose._

"It's his girlfriend, I'm sure of it!" Pandora had informed her grandparents one evening as she lay stretched out upon the rug before the fireplace in their little sitting room, gazing thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "She's quite horrible to him! She makes fun of him all the time! She's making him miserable!"

"Yes...so you say, love..." Nana Dora had mumbled a little wearily from where she sat penning a letter at the writing desk in the corner. "Now how's that history essay of yours coming, hm? You're supposed to hand it in tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Do you think they might split up, Nana?" Pandora asked, imagination racing at the mere thought, and as Dora reached to fold the letter she had just finished writing neatly in half the witch sighed heavily.

"Come and make yourself useful, for Merlin's sake!" the former Auror instructed, slipping the letter into a carefully addressed envelope. "Honestly, sitting down there all afternoon daydreaming, Pan! Come on, come here!"

Pandora reached to push herself reluctantly up into a sitting position, and she groaned when her grandmother told her:

"Go and send Helga off with this, won't you? And since you're so determined to shun your homework you can go and make grandad a cup of tea whilst you're at it!"

Crossing the room to retrieve the letter, Pandora squinted down at it as she headed towards the kitchen.

"The Albanian Auror Department?" she observed, frowning deeply. "What on earth d'you want with the Alb..."

"Don't be so bloody nosy!" Dora interjected with a snigger as she rose to her feet and went to sit at her husband's side upon the sofa. "Honestly...!"

"I'm only saying, Nana!" Pandora called as she disappeared into the kitchen where she found Helga sat snoozing in her cage. "Just because you've run out of complaints to make about our own Ministry, doesn't mean you have to start picking on foreign countries too..."

"Cheek!" Dora exclaimed as Remus raised an eyebrow, gaze fixed upon the GCSE practice paper that Pandora had abandoned some hours earlier.

"Does it make any sense to you?" the witch murmured, leaning towards him until her lips were almost brushing his ear, and the wizard frowned deeply and admitted:

"I've never heard of..._Brigham Young_ in my entire life..."

"Who?"

"Precisely..."

Dora gave a distinctly resigned sigh, only for Remus to chuckle and assure her:

"Don't worry. I shall insist on Pandora educating me. Lala! We'll have tea at the table, shall we? I want you to tell me all about this essay, it sounds utterly fascinating..."

"Gran-dad! No it doesn't! You said we could play chess!"

"We certainly can. After you've finished your homework..."

"I can do it when I get home!"

"That would be a terribly shame. I looking forward to learning all about..." Remus trailed off, squinting at the papers, reading: "The Timbre Culture Act of 1872..."

"1873, Grandad!"

"Pardon?"

"It's the Timbre Culture Act of 1873!"

"Yes, indeed...I was testing you!" Remus reached to rub a tired hand across his eyes as Dora promptly dissolved into silent laughter beside him. As he eased himself up onto his feet with a slight wince, the werewolf suggested: "I'll sit with her until it's finished, shall I? You've never had any patience with paperwork, after all"

As Pandora reappeared in the kitchen doorway, waiting for the kettle to boil, she watched her grandmother reach to swat Remus on the arm.

"Oh be quiet!" the former Auror snapped, though she was grinning.

"When it comes to ink and parchment you have the attention span of a troll, darling."

"Don't you be all condescending with me, Remus Lupin!"

"Why ever not? It does you good, look! Put's the colour in your cheeks..."

"Now I know who taught Pan to be so bloody cheeky!" Dora muttered as Remus went to sit at the little table by the window. "I could hex your grandfather sometimes, did you know that, Pan?!"

Pandora eyed the two of them in contemplation for a long moment, musing that as Dora lounged back upon the sofa and Remus shifted stiffly in his chair to get comfortable, they suddenly seemed worlds apart.

They were an odd match, Pandora's grandparents. He was quietly spoken and bookish and really rather frail, just like the sort of grandfather Pandora thought normal. She was persistently restless and frequently noisy and, despite the odd ache and pain and bouts of somewhat grumpy wisdom, not at all like the old woman Pandora envisaged as the average grandmother. The differences in their ages seemed suddenly apparent, as did the unlikeliness of the pair of them to begin with. Pandora found herself wondering how their marriage had gone on for so long, how they seemed only to tease each other and never truly disagree or argue about anything...

She wondered how many times she had heard Dora threaten to hex Remus over the years and found herself wondering if it had ever truly happened, if their great differences had ever led to more than teasing or a sharp word or two...

If something so alien could ever really happen to two so different people who believed they were in love.

Like Jeff and Rovena, Pandora recalled, the memory still making her feel a little uneasy. Could such differences in personality or opinion really drive somebody to such a thing if they were so sure they were in love?

"Nana?" the girl found herself musing as her grandmother yawned widely, reaching to press a hand to her mouth.

"Pan."

"Have you ever actually done it?"

"Done what, love?"

"Hexed Grandad. Have you ever actually done it?"

And at such a question Remus merely raised an eyebrow and Dora laughed, shaking her head as she exclaimed:

"Oh Pandora! What a question!"

"Yes, but have you?" Pandora pressed, folding her arms firmly across her chest. "I mean...have you ever just...just felt so angry with him that you've just...just...!"

Dora's looked as if she thought the question distasteful, though she admitted:

"Domestic violence isn't really my forte, Sweetheart..."

"So you've never hexed Grandad? Not ever?" Pandora confirmed, and her grandmother gave a huff.

"Of course I bloody haven't!" the witch exclaimed, only for her husband to snigger and mutter:

"Well that's not technically true..."

"That was different!" Dora exclaimed, sounding utterly appalled at the accusation, and Pandora's eyes promptly snapped over to look at her grandfather.

"What d'you mean, Grandad?!"

"I was once on the end of one of your grandmother's more carefully aimed hexes...she blinded me for near on an hour..."

As Pandora's eyes widened in shock at such a notion, Dora promptly snapped:

"Yeah?! Well you were going to hex me first!"

"You were running away from me."

"You weren't supposed to even be there in the first place! You were in the way!"

"You didn't have to blind me for it, though..."

"I gave you your wand back afterwards! What more could you want?!"

As the squabbling became increasingly heated, Pandora felt as if this were somehow all some kind of joke, only to feel yet more bemused when Dora pointed out:

"It wasn't my fault, anyway! If Carrie hadn't broken that bloody time turner you wouldn't have been snogging a bloody Death Eater and I wouldn't have had to have gone back in time to do something about it!"

A distinctly stunned pause descended upon the sitting room as Pandora looked from Remus to Dora and then back at Remus again, before the werewolf pointed out:

"We agreed never to speak of that, Dora. Not ever..."

"It's not my fault you have a poor taste in women!" Dora sniggered, and as he turned his back meaningfully upon his wife, the werewolf muttered:

"Indeed, there's no surprise I married you..."

As they trailed off into silence, Dora seemingly realised that Pandora was still in the room, and at the confusion upon the girl's face the witch suggested:

"I should ask your mother, love."

"Right..." Pandora mumbled, utterly bemused, and her grandfather concluded:

"Your Nana has never hexed, jinxed or so much as prodded me with that wand of hers, Pan, for as long as I've known her."

"But you just said..." Pandora began, only for the werewolf to insist:

"I didn't _know_ her, then."

"This is a ridiculous conversation." Dora pointed out, suddenly unamused. "Honestly, Pan, to ask me that...!"

"Sorry, Nana..."

"People snap sometimes, that much is true..."

"Good people?"

"Perhaps, but to...to hex somebody you love like that...! People lose their tempers, Pan, they...they lose all reason sometimes but...but to resort to magic! No..."

"But without magic?" Pandora wondered, recalling Jeff and Rovena, and Dora sighed, reaching to rub a weary hand across her eyes.

"Pandora...!" the witch moaned, face contorting at the question, and Remus suggested:

"Enough, Pan. Come and sit and do this homework."

Reluctantly Pan wandered over to sit down at the table as Dora disappeared into the kitchen to finish making tea, and once Pandora had started to scribble an essay plan upon a spare sheet of paper, Remus reached to gather up an abandoned plate or two from the table, rising back onto his feet to return them to the kitchen.

With her grandfather briefly out of sight, Pandora found her concentration waning, and, hearing her grandparents bustling around in the kitchen, found herself wondering:  
"Can I have a slice of cake, Nana?"

When Dora failed to reply, Pandora abandoned her pen and made a beeline for the kitchen door, only to pause when she heard her grandmother wonder:

"What d'you suppose she'd think of me, if I told her?"

"Probably much the same as me, Dora." Remus mused, sounding somewhat unconcerned by the question, and as Pandora peered around the half-open door she found her grandmother pouring the tea, the werewolf beside her stacking plates in the sink.

"I doubt it. Nobody would...would think of it like you do, Remus. You're...you're not normal, you never have been, certainly wasn't normal back then! Besides, you weren't going to tell her, were you?"

"Of course I wasn't..."

"Exactly!"

"Because it's private, Dora. Between you and I. It's none of Pandora's business, or anybody else's, what goes on in our marriage. And I don't see the point of bringing it up, especially not now! I'm an old man, for Merlin's sake! Anything that went on back when we first married is practically ancient history! It was all so minor in my mind, back then, it wouldn't even make it into an ancient history book to begin with!" And with that Remus reached to bump an elbow against his wife arm, adding: "And I like to think I got away with it lightly. Left without warning in the middle of a war with a baby on the way? I'd have beaten the stuffing out of me when I came back if I were you!"

"Mm..." Dora mumbled, frowning in distinct disapproval. "But perhaps I ought have taken the ring off first."

"Surely not, darling." Remus chuckled as he reached to wipe his hands dry with a tea towel. "There's something beautifully symbolic about being struck in the face by the symbol of marriage as punishment for making such a mockery of one's marital vows to begin with."

"Well it wasn't very beautiful the following morning when half the Order wanted to know which Death Eater was responsible for the state of you now, was it?!"

"I took it as a compliment that my wife could imitate a hex with no more than a well aimed backhand, actually...how's that essay plan coming along, Lala?"

Pandora jumped a little to be spotted, and she hastily swept into the kitchen, asking:

"Can I have some cake, Nana?"

"Knock yourself out, love." Dora mumbled, her glance sideways at the girl distinctly uneasy, and Pandora made a hasty beeline for the bread bin.

Pandora later wondered what Dora would really think of her feelings of what she had heard.

Because surely a feeling of relief was not what the witch would have been expecting. But nevertheless relief was what Pandora felt.

It was a relief to think that even the most normal of people could snap.

It was a relief to think that if Dora could snap, then Jeff might to.

That Jeff was probably still normal, that there was nothing to worry about, nothing being hidden.

It made trips to SEWS from then on far easier, Pandora felt, despite Jeff's distinct lack of cheer, and as the months went on she was more and more keen to go there. As her final GCSE exams approached, Pandora's parents became increasingly keen for her to stay at home and study, but she still managed to persuade them to take her to London on a regular basis, though she often had to take her homework and revision books with her. She saw little if nothing of Claire and Libby because she couldn't seem to help but pick SEWS over a trip out with them in a heartbeat.

She felt as if she simply belonged there.

In fact she picked SEWS over family outings on an increasingly regular basis, too. She had even skipped dinner at her grandparents' house three times in a row, and it was just days after her final GCSE exam that her mother finally decided to put her foot down.

"I'm going over to Nana and Grandad's this afternoon, Pan." Carrie had informed her daughter one morning, poking her head around the teenager's bedroom door as Pandora groggily opened her eyes, having only just awoken. "You'll come, won't you?"

"Rochelle's having a barbecue." Pandora had announced with a yawn. "It's to celebrate the end of term or...something..."

"A barbecue?"

"Yes."

"Well that's the first I've heard of it!"

Pandora's face instantly contorted in annoyance.

"M-um...!"

"Grandad and Nana have been waiting for you to visit for the past three weeks, Pandora!"

"Well they could floo or apparate over if they were really that keen..." Pandora pointed out nonchalantly, only to flinch when Carrie promptly flung the bedroom door open, expression utterly livid.  
"Pandora Lupin!" the muggle snapped, eyes widening quite madly as she strode into the room, reaching to yank the duvet away from the girl so that she could more easily glower at her. "Would you just listen to yourself?! If your Grandad and Nana want you to pop over one day for tea, so they can make a fuss, stuff you full of cake and chocolate and Merlin knows what else, and give you a card and a present they picked out _over a month ago_ to congratulate you on finishing your exams, then so help me, you WILL go and visit them!"

"They've...bought me a present?" Pandora attempted to clarify, blinking the sleep from her eyes, only for Carrie to moan:

"Teenagers! You're all so ridiculously shallow!"

"I'm not being shallow...I just don't really see why I'm getting a present or...or fussed over..."

"Well they did the same for Imogen, didn't they?! When she finished Hogwarts?! They held a big family dinner, covered half the cottage in balloons and banners and gave her the enchanted charm bracelet they bought back from Ireland!"

"Well yes," Pandora agreed, very much frowning. "I know about all of that. But that was when Imogen was eighteen, Mum. I'm sixteen, I haven't done my A-Levels yet."

"Muggles...and...and Squibs finish compulsory education at the age of sixteen, Pan. And as far as your grandparents are aware, you've never shown much interest in school or doing A Levels...let alone going to University..."

Pandora felt utterly bemused. It had never occurred to her that she wouldn't go and take A Levels after her GCSEs. Of course she hated going to school and she had no doubt she'd hate college equally as much, but she had always assumed she would go anyway. Despite their apparent lack of faith in her her parents had put her name down to attend Goodwin College next September. Surely her grandparents knew that?

"Do they think I'm too stupid?" she wondered, because quite frankly she didn't know what else could have factored into her grandparents' assumptions, only for Carrie to give a huff of laughter.

"Oh no, love. They know as well as I do that you'll be off to Goodwin in September. But they know you don't like school. I suppose they feel that, if you've hated it so much and yet got this far anyway, you might deserve at least a shred of recognition for it!" When Pandora merely stared at her, the muggle sighed heavily, exclaiming: "They're proud of you, love!"

"Oh..." Pandora mumbled, feeling an odd swell of warmth in her chest at the thought, and her mother suggested:

"I'll owl and let them know we're coming, shall I? We'll ask Immy to come with us and I'll leave Dad a note at work, see if he can't slip away for a little at lunchtime."

Imogen had some month earlier reluctantly acquired part-time work as a cleaner and occasional barmaid at the Leaky Cauldron, thanks to Remus making an unannounced trip to Hogwarts for a word with Professor Neville Longbottom, who in turn had suggested to his wife Hannah, the pub's landlady, that she might find Remus' eldest granddaughter a job. Having recalled from his time teaching her at Hogwarts that Imogen had a particular flair for potions, Neville had secured Imogen a job mixing the establishment's supply of various cleaning solutions, which Hannah claimed were just as good as those she usually bought ready made, but cost a fraction of the price when made from scratch using Neville's extensive collection of plants and ingredients grown in little greenhouses in one of the pub's back courtyards. Since this alone was not a full job in itself, however, Imogen spent the majority of her time cleaning the guest rooms upstairs and scrubbing dishes clean in the kitchen. Though glad to be earning some money again at last, Imogen was not terribly fond of the job. She liked Hannah and the other staff well enough, and enjoyed the solitary aspects of her work. But since she worked just a fraction of the hours she had in her previous job, her wages were low, the work of little interest to her, and when required to work behind the bar she was often not quite as smiley and cheerful as a barmaid ought be, as Hannah would persistently point out. She was a good girl, Hannah had reported to Teddy and Carrie some week previously when they had popped into the Leaky for a drink or two one evening, she could charm customers if she put her mind to it, was very bright and often witty, knew how to work hard, but overall seemed quite lost, directionless, as if she might rather be somewhere else but had no idea where that place might be.

As it happened, Imogen was not due into work until six o'clock in the evening, Pandora discovered when she had joined her sister at the breakfast table. Hannah had switched Imogen's shift from an afternoon of cleaning to an evening of bar-tending instead, for they were to be short a barman whilst the man in question was away on holiday. With a well-publicised Quidditch match due to take place that afternoon, Imogen was quite dreading the prospect of hours spent serving a bunch of rowdy fans of a sport she had once loved, but now loathed to hear mentioned even in passing. Lunch at her grandparents house, however, seemed to be a slightly cheering notion and she agreed to tag along. With Teddy managing to slip away from Auror Headquarters at just gone noon, the entire family was able to apparate over to the little cottage, taking a stroll down the leafy lane to the front door in the early afternoon sunshine. As it often was, they found the front door unlocked, and so Teddy reached to push open the front door. As they all stepped across the threshold and into the little sitting room, the wizard called:

"Alright, Mum? Alright, Dad?"

"Alright, Teddy love?" Dora's voice called cheerfully from the kitchen as Remus too called a greeting from a similar direction, and Pandora and Imogen were about to call too when in front of them Carrie and Teddy both came to such an abrupt halt that their daughters very nearly walked straight into the back of them.  
A sudden silence descended upon the sitting room as Teddy and Carrie both stared over towards the sofa, and Pandora rose up onto her tip toes to peer over her mother's shoulder...

Sat in the middle the little sofa, causing the chair to sag down towards the floor, was a huge, hulking woman with short cropped brown hair and a distinctly square jaw. She was dressed in a set of rather expensive looking robes of khaki green trimmed with gold, which, worn by a woman so disproportionately big to the average person, looked distinctly like a disused tent. She was clutching hold of a large mug of tea which seemed to be utterly dwarfed by her shovel-like hands.

Pandora had never set eyes upon the stranger in her life.

The stranger offered the family in the doorway a toothy grin.

"Good afternoon!" she greeted as Carrie very nearly stepped on Pandora's toes shuffling backwards a step. She had a thick accent that Pandora couldn't place, but the penny dropped a moment later when Teddy found his voice to murmur:

"Ms...Ms Luga! What a...what a pleasant surprise!"

Former National Duelling Champion Valbona Luga gave a deep, booming laugh as she exclaimed:

"You surprise me too, yes! Look! You all older! Look at Imogen, she was so little when I see her before! She look like Dora now, yes? Ha!"

"Ha..." Teddy agreed as Carrie's gaze darted somewhat wildly towards the kitchen door.

"And this must be Pandora, yes?" Luga went on, eyes coming to rest upon the squib peering curiously at her over her mother's shoulder.

"That's right!" Teddy said brightly, at last over the shock of discovering his mother's once-arch nemesis sitting casually in Dora's sitting room. "Say hello, Pan!"

"Hello..." Pandora mumbled uncertainly, causing the half-giant to grin widely again, leaning forward in her seat, making the sofa groan.

"You finish your Squib exams, yes?" she said, instantly making Carrie scowl. "Your grandmother, she has bought you a cake!"

"Has she really?" Carrie said, reaching to seize Pandora by the elbow. "Let's go and look, shall we?" And with that she made a beeline for the kitchen, half-dragging her daughter after her.

Once inside the kitchen Carrie turned to close the door firmly behind them, before rounding on the couple who were busy making tea and sandwiches.  
"Dora!" the muggle hissed, causing the witch in question to look up from buttering a mound of sliced bread.

"Hello Carrie love!" Dora greeted, abandoning the task in order to sweep across the room to envelope Pandora in a hug, mumbling a similar greeting.

"Dora!" Carrie hissed again, eyes widening quite madly, raising a hand to point at the door behind her. "Valbona Luga is in your sitting room! Sitting on your sofa and...and DRINKING TEA!"

Dora gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.

"What?!" she exclaimed, voice so dripping with sarcasm that over by the kettle Remus struggled not to laugh, instead beckoning Pandora with outstretched arms. "Really?! Sweet Merlin, how did that happen?!" When Carrie merely scowled, the witch turned to ask her husband: "Did you know about this, Remus?!"

"This isn't funny!" Carrie snapped, reaching to rake a hand through her hair as Remus and Pandora exchanged a tight hug. "What's she doing here?!"

"Well I invited her, obviously." Dora pointed out, sounding quite exasperated.

"What?!"

"I invited her, Carrie. She's come to stay for a little while..."

"What do you mean she's...she's come to stay?!"

"She's staying with Remus and I for a few weeks, that's all."

"That's all?! The woman's a maniac, Dora!"

Dora's expression grew instantly offended.

"She's a dear friend, actually."

"She tried to hospitalise you!"

"What's your point? I _did_ hospitalise her..."

"But you hate her!"

"Don't be silly, Carrie. We've been exchanging letters for years. She's quite nice when you get to know her, actually..."

An uncomprehending silence descended upon the kitchen and, finding Dora entirely unreasonable, Carrie was forced to look to Remus to demand:

"Well?! Aren't you...aren't you going to say something?!"

"Oh grow up, Carrie!" Dora snapped before Remus could so much as draw breath to speak. "Valbona and I didn't get on when we were younger, we were in competition with one another and it got rather heated and we both had our reasons for it! Now we're older, wiser and we get on perfectly well! That's all there is to it! There's no point holding a grudge, is there? Let's not have some silly argument about it, eh?"

"It's Pan's day, after all!" Remus pointed out, giving his granddaughter's shoulder a squeeze, and Carrie simply stared around the kitchen in confusion for a long moment, before mumbling:  
"Fine! Fine...alright...let's just...fine..."

"Open the door, Carrie." Remus suggested with a smile. "I'll bring the tray of tea in."

The atmosphere over tea and cake that afternoon, Pandora felt, was ever so slightly uncomfortable, for neither of her parents seemed to quite manage to relax around Remus and Dora's new houseguest. Though not terribly adept at polite conversation, however, Valbona Luga seemed to Pandora to be a world away from all the horror stories the girl had heard over the years. Her English was not perfect, she laughed too loudly and had a rather blunt manner. But Pandora didn't all together dislike her, indeed she seemed to have a surprisingly kind heart. She insisted they all call her by her first name, she spoke very fondly of her hosts and their hospitality and even enthusiastically congratulated Pandora on finishing her exams.

"What brings you back to Britain?" Teddy had asked some while after Dora had presented Pandora with a large chocolate cake and the rest of the family had spent some time babbling cheerfully about just how pleased they were with how she had done at school and how they were sure her exam results would be brilliant.

"I come to Britain," Luga said through a mouthful of chocolate cake, "because Dora write to me. She say she hear news of my little niece. My little Rovena!"

"Pan knows Rovena Luga, don't you Pan?" Imogen recalled as she took a sip of her tea, and Pandora felt her cheeks flush a little pink when Luga's gaze snapped round to look at her, face instantly lighting up.

"You know my Rovena?!"

"Yes...we've met..."

"Is she well? What...what does she...how is she?!"

"Oh she's very well, I think. She um...she's dating a friend of mine..."

"She has a boy?"

"Yes...a very nice boy, actually."

Luga positively swelled with pride at the mere thought, turning to offer Dora beside her a broad grin.

"My Rovena was a lovely little girl." she said, eyes shining at the mere memory. "She the only one left, you know, in my family, who love me. She my brother Valon's little girl. She loved her Aunt Valbona back in Albania, she did! But I not see her now. She left for Britain with her mother and grandmother. I beg them not to go, I tell them they break my heart! But they do not care about my heart. They do not care for me at all! I am...what you say? Dark sheep!"

"Black sheep." Dora suggested over the rim of her teacup, and Luga nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes, I black sheep of family. I always have been. Father and Mother were never married, his parents would not want anything to do with a mother like mine! So he marry a nice pure-blood witch and forget all about my mother. But then I am left on their doorstep and Father vow to look after me. My stepmother, she never like me, but her son, my half brother Valon, he did not care that I am different. He was a nice brother, very good to me. Only Father and Valon love me, so I think to myself I want the others in my family to be proud that I am with them! So I study very hard at school, I get good grades, pass all my exams. But they did not care. So I joined Albanian Auror Department, everyone wants an Auror in the family, yes? You proud of them, yes? My family, they were proud of Valon when he joined the Aurors. But not me. They not care about me. Then my father die and I have only Valon left who love me. We were Aurors together, until he lose his job. Valon married nice pure-blood witch, just like Father. She hate me, just like my stepmother, but Valon let me stay in the big house with them that he inherited from Father. When Rovena was born Valon let me spend time with her, even though his wife not approve. I still try to make my family proud. I join Albanian Duelling Team but...but I got disqualified and the family were ashamed! So, so ashamed! They say it was embarrassing for them! So I try again and become National Duelling Champion...but Dora beat me, so my family are not impressed. I win again twice, I beat every dueller I face! But they do not care, they cannot be proud of me! And then my dear brother Valon, he get sick and he dies. I am heart-broken, I have only my little Rovena left! But my stepmother and Rovena's mother hate me, Valon had left the big house in his will to me, not them! He was angry, yes? He is angry they never accepted me! I tell them they can stay in the house, I not mind, I want them there, I want to see my Rovena! But they not want to stay with me! They take my Rovena and...and they...they leave Albania to live in Britain! They take my Rovena away and...and leave me all on my own!"

"That's terrible!" Carrie whispered, eyes widening in horror at the notion, and Pandora felt somewhat taken aback to see the Albanian's eyes looking distinctly watery.

"I did not give up." she said, shaking her head vigorously. "No, I did not! I write to Mr. Potter, Head of British Auror Department, I ask him for a job so that I may move to Britain also! He...he not get my letters, perhaps..."

Teddy coughed rather loudly into his hand and Pandora glanced at her shoes at the memory that if Carrie was not fond of Valbona Luga, Harry Potter positively hated the woman. Pandora had no doubt that Harry had ignored every single letter, indeed he had probably tossed them on the fire without bothering to open them.

"I write five times over the course of two months." Luga recalled, suddenly smiling as she recalled: "And one day I receive letter, not from Mr. Potter, but from Dora! She say no vacancies at this time, but I write back and ask her to please help me, I tell her I must be with my family, with my Rovena!"

"I had a word with Harry about it." Dora recalled, frowning deeply. "But he laughed me out of his office." When Luga looked somewhat offended to hear this she decided: "He felt after all that had happened in the Duelling Championships over the years the other British Aurors would...would have a hard time accepting you, I suppose..."

"I too good for them!" Luga exclaimed, slapping a hand upon one enormous knee as she gave a booming laugh, and Dora laughed somewhat uneasily and agreed:

"Oh, there's no doubt! I retired soon afterwards, anyway, but Valbona and I kept on writing to one another."

"Yes, we good friends now."

"That's right, we are."

"What will people say to that?!" Luga laughed again, reaching to clamp a hand down upon Dora's shoulder, the movement making the rest of the family wince.

"They'll be perfectly shocked, I'm sure." Remus said, gaze coming to rest meaningfully upon Carrie, who gave a distinctly mechanical laugh.

"And then Dora hear of my Rovena, and next thing I know there is terrible, terrible news. Rovena's mother and my stepmother get in trouble with British Ministry of Magic for possessing Dark artefacts or...or something, I not know quite what..." Luga glanced questioningly in Teddy's direction, noting his scarlet Auror robes, but the Auror merely shook his head.

"Not quite my department, I'm afraid." he admitted, only for Luga to wave a dismissing hand, very nearly hitting Imogen in the face with it.

"They have not been good, whatever it is. And the British Ministry of Magic threaten to deport them back to Albania! My little Rovena, she will be all on her own, so I come to Britain to ask her if she will come back to Albania and live in Luga ancestral home with her Aunt Valbona!" Luga finished, sounding somewhat triumphant, grinning in a distinctly excited manner at the plan.

"She'll be off home the evening of our wedding anniversary." Dora concluded with a smile, and Luga nodded, adding:  
"Hopefully Rovena comes with me!"

Pandora rather hoped that Rovena would, too...


	8. Romance With A Bang

**8: Romance with a Bang**

It was with some enthusiasm that, a few days after meeting Valbona Luga, Pandora agreed that she might tag along on a SEWS group outing to Diagon Alley in the hope of spotting Rovena. Keen to stock up on supplies for a summer tea party which, the society's youngest members were insisting should be fancy dress, a number of Squibs including Pandora had volunteered to help Jeff go shopping. Dora, in need of a handful of items herself, had volunteered to apparate both Pandora and Valbona to London. For once Pandora was keen to see Rovena, or at least for Valbona to see her, because the young squib could think of little better than to have Rovena Luga out of Jeff's life.

As they stepped out into the cobbled street, Pandora soon began to notice her fellow shoppers seemed to be staring at her, and she reached sideways to tug discreetly at her grandmother's sleeve.

"Everybody's staring, Nana!" she mumbled, but Dora merely chuckled and agreed:

"I bet!"

"Dora! I draw my wand on you, yes?" Valbona suggested as a wizard in a tall pointed hat abandoned his examination of the window display of Flourish and Blotts to turn and stare at the trio. "They think us less strange and stop staring then!"

Dora laughed at this notion, though Pandora found herself quite glad to spot Jeff, a trio of SEWS members and Rovena stood outside of Madam Malkin's, and she was about to hurry over to them when she suddenly thought better of it. Coming to a halt she turned to glance round at Valbona, the girl raised a hand to point over at the little group, announcing:

"There she is! That's...that's Rovena there...the girl with the...with the burgundy cloak..."

Valbona Luga's gaze darted to look over at her long lost niece, and for a long moment she observed Rovena, oblivious as she laughed at something or other that Jeff was saying, clinging onto her boyfriend's arm with one hand...

Pandora looked from Valbona to Rovena, then back to Valbona again.

The half-giant slowly reached to press a hand across her mouth, her squinting eyes becoming abruptly watery.

"Oh!" she exclaimed after a moment, eyes widening at the sight before her, her voice abruptly high pitched. "Look! Look at...look at her! My little Rovena!" Face positively glowing with happiness, she turned to offer Dora a truly brilliant smile, her hand falling from her mouth so that she could clap her hands together in excitement as she gushed: "She is beautiful!"

"She certainly is!" Dora agreed cheerfully, only to wince a little when, to the utter bemusement of passersby, the Albanian flung her bear-like arms around the older witch, hugging her tightly.

"We found her!" she exclaimed, positively sobbing with happiness as Dora attempted to gasp for breath, the air knocked from her lungs. "We found her! My...my darling little girl, we found her! I...I never...I never been so...so happy in my life! Not ever!"

At such a commotion, Rovena and the squibs had paused in their chatting to stare over at Valbona's suffocating hold upon Dora, and as the Auror finally released the metamorphmagus, Pandora hurried forward to greet them. When Valbona took a couple of stumbling, uncertain steps after the girl, Pandora heard Rovena utter:  
"Oh heck..."

"Who the hell is that?" a boy, named Terry from what Pandora could recall, wondered, and Jeff promptly supplied:

"She's that Auror, isn't she? You know, the one who slaughtered the British Aurors three years in a row...you know the one I mean...what's her name, Ro?"

Rovena was too busy staring at Valbona in distinct horror, and the closer the Albanian Duelling Champion drew the more Rovena's nose seemed to wrinkle as if she could smell something unpleasant.

"Rovena!" the half-giant called, spreading her arms wide, positively trembling with emotion as she attempted to blink back tears. "Rovena, dear Rovena!"

Rovena took a sizeable step backwards, face flushing pink in embarrassment.

"It's me, Rovena!" Valbona cried, smile faltering ever so slightly. "It's been a long time, I...I know but...but it's me, my darling! It's your Aunt Valbona!"

"What are you doing here?" Rovena asked, not sounding in the least bit pleased to see her estranged relation in the slightest. Eyes narrowing the girl glanced sideways to Pandora to accuse: "Is this your fault? Did you bring her here?!"

"Um..." Pandora mumbled, taken aback at the coldness in Rovena's voice, only for Rovena to turn back to scowl at her aunt, demanding to know:

"What do you want?!"

For a long moment Valbona seemed a little tongue-tied, her initial elation shattered. When she did finally straighten up, drawing in a deep breath to speak, she seemed strangely timid.

"I...they tell me that...that you are in trouble, Rovena. Your mother and grandmother...they are causing you trouble. So I...I thought...I have...I have come to help you. To...to look after you!"

"You want to help me?"

"Of course!"

When Rovena's face contorted at the idea, Valbona reminded her: "You are my niece! You are...you are all I have, I don't have anyone else..."

Again, Rovena only stared.

"I...I know it has been long time since...since your father died and...and you went away. But...but you are still my niece and I...you are very important to me! I...I have missed you so terribly and I...I always love you very much! I...I have your picture in...in my purse, I keep it with me and I...I hope for when I see you a...again and...and...I want...I just want my...my Rovena! I...I think maybe we...we go back to Albania together and I...I look after you, just two of us, it...it will be perfect..."

"Perfect?" Rovena scoffed, folding her arms firmly across her chest. "Are you simple or something?! I don't even know you..."

"N...no but...but you can! You can know me...I...we are family! You knew me well when you were little girl! You can know me again..."

Pandora felt her heart sinking into her shoes as Valbona trailed off, reaching to swipe a huge hand across her watery eyes, and at Rovena's next words it was as if she had been physically struck.

"I don't want to know you!" the girl cried with a disbelieving laugh, sounding utterly repulsed. "I don't want anything to do with you and we're certainly not family! You can't be part of my family! You're a freak!"

A horrible silence seemed to descend upon the street, punctured by Valbona's short, sharp, sobbing breaths as she simply stared at her niece in uncomprehending horror, her whole hulking frame trembling with poorly suppressed tears.

Pandora watched numbly as Dora stepped up to the grief-stricken Auror's side, reaching to grasp hold of her by the arm with both hands, tugging her backwards a stumbled step.

"Come on, Valbona." the metamorphmagus whispered, dark eyes darting to shoot Rovena a look that suggested she found the girl even more repulsive than Rovena found her aunt. "Come on...let's go home, alright? I've got a new bottle of whiskey, I reckon we could use a drop..."

To Pandora, who despite herself jumped a little to be addressed, Dora decided: "Two hours, Pan, then I'm sending Grandad to the Leaky to fetch you, okay?"

"Thanks Nana..." Pandora mumbled, and with that Dora shot Rovena one last look of deepest disgust before setting off up the street, pace painfully slow as she coaxed the distinctly shocked Valbona along with her.

No sooner were they a good distance away and the surrounding shoppers had turned their attentions back to their shopping, Pandora failed to resist the urge to turn on her heel to inform Rovena frankly:

"You're a cruel, ungrateful and stuck up little bitch! In fact your entire family is just the same! Your Aunt Valbona is the only decent one out of the lot of you, and if you're too stupid to see that then you're even more of an ignorant, self absorbed bigot than I first thought!" And with that, before Rovena could do much more than gawp at her in outrage, Pandora hastily turned on her heel and marched off down the street, determined to put a good distance between the two of them before the situation could get any worse.

At the sound of hurried footsteps following her, Pandora felt a sudden urge to break out into a run, only to relax a little to hear Jeff call:

"Pandora!"

She didn't stop to turn and face him, she could just imagine what he was going to say, he'd stick up for that dreadful girlfriend of his and Pandora would be simply furious with him...

Ducking past a display of second hand broomsticks, Pandora made to take refuge in the nearest shop, a dimly lit bookshop crammed full of shelves that smelt old and musky. She heard Jeff slip through the door after her and as she finally slowed to a halt down one of the cramped aisles, the man behind her informed her a little breathlessly:

"You're quite something, aren't you?"

Pandora felt as if her blood was boiling as she spun around to face him, only to freeze to find him standing mere inches from her, gazing down at her intensely, an almost half-smile tugging at his lips.

"Your girlfriend's quite something too, isn't she?!" she told him, voice dulled by his closeness as she fiddled with the hem of her blouse, fingers tugging irritably at the material. "I mean...what...what a thing to say to..."

She was cut off abruptly when, to her greatest shock, Jeff suddenly leant forward a little until he could lean to catch her lips against his...

And in an instant Pandora felt her heart stop in her chest and the world was turned upside down.

Within a moment he had jerked backwards again, sucking in a deep breath as he gazed down at her.

Pandora stared dumbly at him.

Jeff stared back. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if he might say something, but each time he seemed to think better of it, his expression growing increasingly frustrated until he simply shook his head with a unintelligible mutter, turning on his heel and hurrying back out of the shop again.

Pandora stood motionlessly staring after him for a minute before finally coming to at least a fraction of her senses when a voice from behind her called:

"Alright there, Miss?"

Pandora jumped a little, turning to spot a young man clutching a stack of books to his chest, the shopkeeper the girl supposed, and she found herself mumbling:

"Um..."

"You look rather lost, that's all." the man said, dumping the books down upon an empty bookshelf, and Pandora wondered if it were possible for her blush to deepen at all as she hastily decided:

"Oh no, I'm...I'm fine, thank you! I just...um...I should just..." Trailing off she found herself unable to do anything except turn and flee from the shop.

She wandered down the cobbled street, looking for Jeff and the others and rather hoping not to find them. She didn't much fancy walking awkwardly around with them in her confused state, and was just silently bemoaning the fact that she had a full two hours to wait for Remus to come and pick her up when, passing an alleyway by the Leaky Cauldron she paused to hear the sound of somebody sobbing somewhat uncontrollably, and turning to look down the alleyway she found perhaps that she might have less of a wait than she first imagined.

Valbona Luga was collapsed down upon a set of tall barrels, hunched over and sobbing miserably into a rather small handkerchief that she was clutching with two hands, and beside her stood Dora, biting her lip rather worriedly as she told the Auror:

"Come on, let's not do this here, alright? Let's just..."

"I...I d...don't...I don't know what t...to do!" Valbona choked, before letting out a fresh wail of despair that was loud enough to make Dora wince.

"You can start by standing up for me." Dora insisted, reaching to press a firm hand to the other witch's arm. "Let's get you home, you don't need any more people staring and muttering and all sorts..."

"Who cares?!" Valbona wailed with a sniff. "W..we already know what...what they think of...of me!"

"Don't judge the rest of us by Rovena's opinions, Val." Dora suggested, giving her arm a reassuring squeeze. "She's a product of the people who raised her, that's all."

"Sh...she was a...a good girl! She lovely girl!"

"She's been wildly misguided. I'm sure if she could take the time to get to know you she'd realised just how blessed she is to have an aunt like you. I wish I'd had aunts like you. I had two aunts, you know, one of them didn't want a thing to do with me and the other one made it her business to try and murder me...landed me in hospital once or twice!"

"I...I w...would n...never h...hurt Rovena, I...I want to...to help her..."

"Of course you do. But she's young, isn't she? Young and stupid, they're all the same..."

As Valbona reached to bury her face in her hands again with a muffled sob, Pandora heard footsteps to her left and a young man dressed in a white shirt with rolled up sleeves came hurrying past towards the two witches, calling a little breathlessly:  
"Mrs. Lupin!"

Dora immediately stepped forward in an all together vain attempt to hide Valbona from view, folding her arms firmly across her chest as the young man came to a skidding halt in front of her.

"Mrs...Mrs. Nymphadora Lupin?" he attempted to clarify. "Of the Order of the Phoenix? Former Deputy Head of the Auror Department and...and one time British Duelling Champi..."

"Yes, can I help you with something?" Dora interrupted before he could quite finish, and the wizard took a flustered moment to draw in a very deep breath, gaze looking over the witch's shoulder at Valbona, before he asked excitedly:

"Is...is _that_ who I think it is?"

"Are you a journalist?" Dora shot back, reaching to shove a hand into her pocket, fingers grasping hold of her wand.

"Um..." the young man began uncertainly, only for the witch to hold up a hand to silence him.

"Before you answer," she told him pleasantly, "I ought remind you that, as you so rightly pointed out, I'm the _former_ Deputy head of Aurors. I'm _retired_. I _don't_ have the Minister for Magic breathing down my neck twenty-four seven and I _don't_ have the Wizengamot to answer to anymore. But I _can_ still draw my wand at least ten times faster than you can. And I can't bloody _stand_ nosy little journalists who want to take a completely random and unjustifiable interest in my private life."

The man gave a distinctly guilty chuckle and Valbona hastily attempted to wipe the tears from her face with the sleeve of her robes.

"I'm sorry," he told Dora as he reached into his own pocket. "I don't mean to bother you at all, it's just I...I spotted you with Ms. Luga from the office window just now and I thought how...how extraordinary! And..." whipping a notepad and pencil out from his pocket he offered the witch a bright smile, keenly asking: "Could I get just a couple of words; what're the two of you up to here in Diagon Alley today?"

Dora turned her back on him, reaching to grasp hold of Valbona's elbow, giving her a somewhat futile tug to persuade her up onto her feet.

"What's your name?" the former British Duelling Champion inquired, sounding distinctly irritable as Valbona consented to standing up.

"Me?"  
"No, I was asking the other annoying little twerp behind you. The one wearing the invisibility cloak."

The journalist gave a nervous laugh before supplying:

"Dustin Dunwood, Mrs. Lupin!"  
"Right." Turning back to face him, pulling the wand from her pocket, Dora nodded at the notepad in his hands, asking: "New notepad, Dustin?"

"Oh..." Glancing down at the pad of paper rather uncertainly, Dustin Dunwood paused in consideration for a moment before telling her: "Yes, actually! Fresh this morning..."

"Lovely." Dora said, gesturing for Valbona to head back out into the main street. "And you want what? A couple of words on...?"

"What you're doing here, Mrs. Lupin. Together, I mean..."

"Certainly. Got that pencil ready, have you?"

"Um..."

"Because I'm only going to say this once, you see."

"Certainly, I'm ready!"

Pausing as she made to step past him, Dora dark eyes narrowed abruptly as she informed the journalist:

"_We're leaving_." Tapping her wand against the palm of her hand, the snowy haired witch smiled and concluded: "There you go, Dustin Dunwood. A couple of words for that new little notepad of yours. And I suggest you think twice before asking me for a couple more because I'll take that notepad and pencil of yours and shove it somewhere the sun don't shine."

There was a rather stunned pause as the man watched the two witches head out into the street, Valbona still furiously swiping at her eyes with her sleeve, before he took a step after them, calling:

"Perhaps Ms. Luga might care to..."

Pandora winced as the young man stopped dead in his tracks to find Dora having rounded on him within the blink of an eye, wand very nearly jabbing him between the eyes.

"No she wouldn't." the metamorphmagus informed him bluntly. "Now sod off before I apparate over to the Ministry to file a harassment claim!"

Dustin Dunwood took a slow, cautious step backwards, managing to drop his pencil on the floor in the process.

"Well...it was lovely to meet you, Mrs. Lupin!" he told her, seemingly too alarmed to notice his blunder.

Dora gave a soft snort of disbelief, stooping with a slight wince to retrieve the pencil before holding it out for him to take, reaching with her other hand to shove the wand back into her pocket.

"Here, you dropped this." she told him pleasantly, and once he had accepted it with a distinctly shaky hand she smiled and told him: "Have a good day, Dustin Dunwood!"

No sooner had Dora joined Valbona out in the street, Pandora hurried over to them, just in time to hear Dora mutter:

"...have me done for bloody threatening him, just you wait! Bloody parasites..."

"He see me cry!" Valbona was complaining, and Dora shot one last glance over her shoulder at the man in question before concluding:

"Don't worry, he's about as young and stupid as Rovena is! Who in their right mind would want to base a news article on the basis that I've been spotted lending you a white cotton handkerchief? Ridiculous!"

"Nana!" Pandora called to halt their progress, and when Dora turned wearily to look at her granddaughter, the girl felt almost glad at the drama that appeared to be plaguing the witch that day. She was far too preoccupied to ask questions...

"Take me home with you, please!" Pandora pleaded once she had caught up with them, and Dora frowned a little.

"I've only just brought you here, Pan..."

"Yes, I know! But I...I don't want to stay, I just fancy going home!" At the bemused expression she was offered, Pandora decided: "It's just I...I have the most terribly headache!"

Still frowning, Dora reached to press a deliberating hand to the girl's forehead, observing:

"You're rather pale, love."

"Exactly!"

"Told your friends you're leaving, have you?"

"Yes." Pandora lied as Dora swept a stray strand of hair away from the girl's eyes before reaching for her arm as she decided:

"Alright then, let's get out of here..."

Pandora spent the next two hours sat in her grandparents' back garden, sipping lemonade and listening to the steady sound of quiet sobbing from back in the living room. Valbona, who had burst into fresh tears almost as soon as Dora had bundled her through the door and announced to her waiting husband that their encounter with Rovena had not gone terribly well, seemed intent on crying the whole day long. As Dora had pointed out to Remus in the kitchen when Pandora had gone to pour herself another glass of lemonade, as a half-giant she supposed Valbona had the lungs for it.

Being a fraction of the size of Valbona Luga, Pandora supposed she herself did not have the lungs to cry all day long.

But she rather felt as if she might do.

Because she felt so awfully confused.

Because she and Jeff were friends. That was what he wanted. It was all he ever wanted! He was with Rovena, as awful as she was, and he had been so dreadfully upset when Pandora had kissed him at Christmas! He'd said it was wrong, said people would think him weird, in fact Pandora had thought he'd thought it weird himself...

Except he'd kissed her.

_He_ had kissed _her_.

She hadn't kissed him. It hadn't been her idea, in fact the idea hadn't even entered her head. It had been all his doing, all him, he'd kissed her because...

Because?

Because he'd wanted to, somehow, Pandora supposed. Because there was no other reason to kiss a girl, surely?

But he'd been so against it before...

He was probably against it now, he'd seemed quite cross with himself after all, he'd run away...

But he_ had_ kissed her. Pandora! Jeff had kissed Pandora...

Merlin, she felt quite dizzy at the thought of it. Dizzy and...pleased. Sort of. Pleased in a very confused way.

But at the same time she felt annoyed. Annoyed with herself because it had all happened so fast and she couldn't really remember the glorious moment all that clearly.

Annoyed with him too, because it just didn't make any sense...

Nothing made any sense. Nothing at all...

She tried to focus on the few things that she did know. Jeff had, she recalled, kissed her entirely of his own accord. And you only kissed a person if you liked them, Pandora was sure. After all that had been the only reason she had kissed him at Christmas.

She was just contemplating the butterfly-inducing question of just how much Jeff did like her, when she heard Dora calling her from back inside the house. Abandoning her lemonade, Pandora went to poke her head round the back door, peering into the sitting room.

"You've had an owl, love." Dora told her from where she sat in the chair before the fireplace, Valbona still sprawled snivelling on the sofa.

"What...here?" Pandora said, surprised that anybody would think to write to her at her grandparents' address, and Dora raised an eyebrow, holding out a small envelope for her to take.

"It was a Diagon Alley postal service bird." she supplied. "Somebody must've had them look up our address."

At the mention of Diagon Alley, Pandora hurried forward to retrieve the letter, turning on her heel to escape back out into the garden as Dora turned her attention back to Valbona to suggest:

"I think perhaps it might be better to try a different approach. A letter, maybe? Or perhaps have somebody else have a word with her..."

Once back out in the privacy of the back garden, Pandora hastily ripped open the little envelope, where she found a single small sheet of parchment, folded neatly in half. Unfolding it she read in familiar handwriting:

_Write back to the post office if you read this or the one I've sent to your house, Pan. We've been looking all over for you for the past hour, you've got me worried sick!_

_Jeff._

Pandora later supposed that she ought have thought it odd that he would be so worried about her being alone in Diagon Alley at her age, but initially she had done nothing but swell with excitement at the thought that he cared enough to worry at all. It took her some ten minutes of daydreaming and fidgeting before she remembered to go to scribble a reply. In the short time since her previous trip back into the sitting room, things appeared to altered somewhat drastically. Valbona's snivelling and Dora's calm conversation had been replaced by something all together nosier.

"Go on, go on!" Valbona was exclaiming from where she was half=sprawled across the much too small sofa, a large glass bottle of amber liquid flailing around in one hand as she waved it in Dora's direction.

Dora took another slow sip of orange juice and admitted:

"Bit early in the day, Val..."

"Was your idea in first place!" Valbona accused, taking a large swig from the bottle in defiance, and Dora gave a huff of amusement and admitted:

"Well you've go me there!"

"Pandora!" Valbona cried, spotting the teenager as she slipped back through the back door. "Come!" And with that she held out the bottle with a wide grin.

Pandora stared for a long moment at the bottle, and at the giant woman's expectant look the girl found herself reaching forward to take the bottle...

The bottle promptly yanked itself free from Valbona's hand, soaring across the room into Dora's waiting hand. The former Auror examined the bottle for a long moment, before taking a sniff, nose instantly wrinkling.

"Proper Albanian drink, eh!" Valbona announced proudly. "I bring three bottles with me! It good for you, put hairs on chest, my father say..."

"Hear that, Pan?" Dora said, offering her granddaughter a raised eyebrow. "You don't want hairs on your chest...dreadfully unattractive!" Leaning forward in her chair she pointed out: "Pandora isn't of age, Valbona..."

"I wasn't going to drink it!" Pandora protested, folding her arms firmly across her chest. "I was only looking!"

Her grandmother gave a soft snort of disbelief.  
"Well go and look at something else, love!" she suggested. "We have brandy on the table at Christmas, and half glasses of wine at parties! You stick to that, alright? This is bloody poison..."

"Try it!" Valbona cried, slapping an enormous hand down upon the sofa that made it groan, and Dora gave the bottle one last revolted sniff before taking a small gulp. Her face grew red and contorted and almost as soon as she had swallowed half a mouthful she managed to spit the rest back out again, dissolving into a coughing fit.

"Is Hector at home?" Pandora asked, not bothering to wait for her to recover, and when Dora merely waved a hand in the direction of the corner of the room, the girl turned to look over at the cage in question, barely suppressing a sigh.

Pandora had only vague memories of her grandparents' owls Godric and Helga, both of whom had been distinctly elderly by the time Pandora was old enough to recall them, and when Godric had passed away, leaving a distinctly unreliable Helga as the sole post deliverer in the house, Remus and Dora had gone on to acquire a new owl, now their only resident feathery companion; a large and distinctly bad tempered barn owl named Hector.

Remus and Dora seemed to think he was amusing.

Pandora thought he was positively viscous.

Striding over to the cage in which the proud bird sat, Pandora shot the animal a distinctly irritable look.

"No funny business, alright?!" she muttered as she snatched up a quill to scribble a reply to Jeff, and the bird ruffled his feathers in mock innocence.

She was only pecked at a handle of times before she had managed to wrestle the note onto the owl's leg, and when she carried the creature over to the window she barely resisted the urge to half-fling it outside, letting it flutter off of its own accord. Once her battle with the wretched creature was done with, she wandered out into the kitchen, where she found her grandfather sat at the little round table, mounds of papers strewn across the wooden surface as he sat writing notes upon a fresh sheet of parchment.

"Alright, Grandad?" the girl called as she went to fetch herself a glass of water, and the old wizard wondered:

"What's that, Sweetheart?"

"I said: alright, Grandad?"

"Oh, yes! I'm certainly alright, Lala."

"What're you up to?"

The werewolf offered his granddaughter a raised eyebrow.

"Order business, Sweetheart."

As she reached to stem the flow of icy water from the tap, Pandora turned to eye the papers curiously.

"You know, Grandad," the squib said as she came to take a seat opposite him. "Maybe if you'd all been a bit more organised back during the war, you might not still be doing filing over four decades later!"

Remus gave a chuckle as he reached to push one lot of papers aside to get a look at another. As he reached to adjust the glasses perched upon his nose, he assured the girl:

"I'll be sure to pass on your advice to the next generation!"

"Like Dad and...and James and Al and the others?"

"Them and those after them."

"Like Immy?"

"Immy and yourself, in a manner of speaking, yes."

Eying the masses of parchment, Pandora chewed upon her lip for a moment, before wondering:

"D'you think that'll ever happen, Grandad? Do you think one day there might be a...another war or...or something dreadful like that and somebody might decide to...to recall the Order of the Phoenix?"

"I sincerely hope not."

"Yes but...d'you think it might?"

Remus frowned deeply, sitting back in his chair so that he could regard his granddaughter seriously.

"I think the Order's days are numbered, Pan." he told her. "The only people who can recall the Order of the Phoenix truly are former Order members themselves, and we are a dying breed." Sighing heavily he reached into his pocket to draw out his pocket watch, flicking it open to observe the time. "But there will be other conflicts...other wars, perhaps. There always are, Pandora. There are always people out there who want to pick fights, take sides, disturb the status quo. And there are always other people out there, if you look hard enough, who are willing to stand up to them. Perhaps it won't be the Order of the Phoenix, perhaps we'll be long gone by then. Perhaps they'll give themselves a different name, or perhaps they won't have a name at all. But they'll be there. They always are. Conflict is the way of the world, Sweetheart. Even when we have peace we're still sending Aurors off all over the place to attack suspected Dark Wizards and fight for this and that."

"That's a grim view of the world, Grandad."

"Oh no, Lala. It's very hopeful. It's hopeful to believe somebody out there will always have the strength to stand up and be counted. And believe me, Pandora, that is no easy thing to do."

"Then how did you do it?" Pandora wondered, leaning forward to rest her elbows upon the table, gazing at him intently.

Remus puffed his cheeks, shaking his head at the thought.

"Sometimes I don't know." he admitted with a frown. "But then sometimes I remembered...when it truly mattered I remembered that there are some things in life...some things in life are just bigger than us."

"That's what Nana always says." Pandora recalled, and Remus chuckled and agreed:

"Indeed it is. Which is ironic, you know, because back during the war I...I faltered sometimes just thinking...nothing was bigger or more important to me than your grandmother. And then your father came along...and once I saw him...once I'd held that child in my arms I thought...I thought I'd steal them both away and make a run for it the next morning! Stop fighting, stop doing what I knew was right! Run away and hide! I told your mother I'd take them away, we'd go as far away as we could...Australia...Africa...the Moon!" Remus shook his head again when Pandora gave a snigger and he admitted: "But of course there are some things in life I knew I just couldn't do. Apparating to the Moon was just one of them..."

The two lapsed into silence as Remus squinted at another document or two, letters the girl saw, before Pandora wondered:

"Did you ever write letters to Nana, Grandad? Back before you were married, I mean."

"Frequently."

"What sort of letters?"

"What sort of letters...?"

"Mm."

"The normal sort, I suppose. Messages about the Order's plans, comments on the weather, well wishes...pleas for her to keep safe..."

"What other sorts of letters?"

"Mm?"

"Love letters, Grandad! Did you ever write Nana love letters?"

Remus laughed again, offering the girl a raised eyebrow.

"Perhaps...on occasion."

"What did you say? In love letters to Nana?"

"Oh Sweetheart! That would be between myself and your Nana."

Pandora gave a soft snort of disbelief.

"Mum showed me the letters she kept that Dad sent when she was at University!" she reasoned, fidgeting excitedly in her chair.

"I suspect your dad did a much better job at writing than I did."

"I doubt it. There was some rather dodgy poetry going on...did you ever write Nana a poem?"

"I...can't say I did, no..."

"Not ever?"

"Not that I can recall."

They fell into an expectant silence and after a long moment Remus sighed heavily, reaching to push back his chair, rising stiffly to his feet.

"Come, then." he murmured, apparently defeated.

Pandora found herself led into the confides of her grandparents' bedroom, a small room with buttercream coloured walls and pale wooden furniture. In the very back of a small trunk set in a corner, her grandfather produced a hefty envelope positively stuffed with papers. Pulling one out at random the werewolf eyed in in consideration before holding it out for Pandora to take. It was a scrappy, water stained piece of parchment with dog-eared corners and the ink upon it was smudged in places. Nevertheless the girl was able to read:

_My Dora, _

_To think you say that you are mine! _

_Alastor has rationed our supply of parchment and ink at this dismal post of ours. He says we must write only when it is strictly necessary, to preserve our supplies and keep owls from attracting attention from Malfoy Manor..._

_...so quite naturally I had to take the time to write to you and tell you that I love you with all my heart! Do stay safe, my Dora, will you promise that you will? I'm counting the days 'till I leave this place and might see you again. Don't let them volunteer you to take over from Alastor and I! I'm selfish, I know, but I couldn't stand to wait another week to see you again. We are in such isolation here, I feel cheated to be honest. We had only a few short days together before Alastor snatched me away for the week! I almost told him I wouldn't come. Could you imagine such a scene? I'd be a ferret in seconds, I'm sure of it, but it would be worthwhile if I could have just one more day with you. I think of you every morning when I watch the sunrise atop the trees to the East, wonder what colour hair you have today, what you might be doing. Today I wager pink, I usually do, it's my favourite, and I like to think you might sit out in your mother's back garden whilst reading this. I hope the sun is shining for you and that I might keep all the rain for myself. I'm running out of room, my darling, so I had better end here. Stay strong, stay safe and stay well in the knowledge that I love you so. _

_Until we meet again, my Dora,_

_R._

Pandora very nearly squealed.

"Can I see another one?!" she pleaded, pressing the note to her chest with a distinctly soppy grin, and her grandfather held out an expectant hand to retrieve the letter, insisting:

"Certainly not, Nana Dora shall already want to hex me into the middle of next week!"

Pandora huffed as she consented to handing the letter back, but already her mind had began to race and it did so for a long while afterwards.

She spent the next four days wishing and daydreaming that Jeff might write to her again, might write a grand confession, might tell her how he felt about her, how he loved her, and when she finally attended SEWS again one evening she felt as if she had the entire situation planned out quite perfectly in her head...

And to the teenager, it all fitted perfectly together. It was a real life fairytale and Jeff was her prince.

To her adult self many years in the future, it was all a bit delusional and silly and downright embarrassing.

But for now, it was just perfect.

She arrived at SEWS that evening with rather grand expectations.

She would leave several hours later with far more than she bargained for.

Jeff did little but offer her a smile from across the room when she arrived, and the two of them exchanged only brief conversations amongst their friends over the course of the evening. It was not until it came time to go home that they found time to speak alone. With Rochelle ill and absent, Pandora volunteered to take her usual place helping Jeff to tidy up the hall and kitchen before going home, sending a brief note home to ask Teddy to come and collect her an hour later than planned.

No sooner had the last of the other SEWS members disappeared out of the door, leaving Pandora and Jeff alone, Pandora had felt her heart begin to race in her chest.

"Pan...?" he called after a long moment of her standing staring at the double doors that had swung shut behind their friends, and she found she wasn't quite ready to turn around to face him.

"Hm?"

"Would you come and grab this?"

"Um..." Pandora turned slowly round to see Jeff standing one end of a squashy sofa upon which the children had been raucously play fighting some time earlier. "Oh..." the girl mumbled, reaching to push the hair back from her eyes, giving herself a little shake. "Right..."

They set about dragging the chair towards the side of the room where it usually sat, smiling vaguely at one another, chuckling awkwardly when she stumbled a little. The sofa was heavy and she felt her cheeks grow pink as she struggled to move it. Once it was in place she failed to resist the urge to collapse down upon it, eyes drifting closed with a sigh. Her stomach twisted into knots when she felt Jeff drop down onto the seat beside her and then, after a long pause, he asked:

"Pan?"

"Hm?" she ventured, not daring to open her eyes, and he hesitated briefly, shifting in his seat. Then he said:

"I can trust you, can't I?"

"Of course you can." Pandora replied without a moments hesitation and she felt his arm brush against hers as he leant back in his seat.

"I knew I could." he said, sounding deadly serious. "I mean I've known for ages. Because, you know, you and me...well we're special, aren't we Pan?"

Pandora didn't really know what he meant by special, but she didn't really care. It sounded nice, so she agreed:

"We are."

"I mean I can talk to you, can't I? It's easy, talking to you. And you're here all the time...it's like...I could tell you anything, you know? Anything in the world and I know you'd keep my secrets or...or just listen and understand because we're the same really, aren't we? We're...you know..."

Pandora was certain that she didn't know. But she liked to think she could imagine them being all sorts of things, so she told him:

"I know."

"I feel like we're...you know..."

"I know."

"And it's just really...I don't know..."

"Mm."

He seemed to ramble on about nothing for a few minutes before he sighed heavily and Pandora finally consented to opening her eyes to look at him. He looked pensive. Pandora thought him rather dashing.

"I suppose what I'm trying to say, Pan," he said, turning to fix her with eyes that she felt she might very well pin her to the spot, "Is I think...I think we need to have a talk. About the other day. In the bookshop."

"Oh." Pandora said, and she wondered what it was that she was expected to say next, but apparently Jeff didn't really want her to say anything.

"I know I shouldn't have kissed you." he said, but she didn't think he sounded very regretful at all. "I know that was wrong of me...what with Rovena and...and what with you being so...you know..."

Pandora didn't know.

"...young and everything, I mean."

At this, she felt instantly embarrassed, reaching to fiddle with the hem of her cardigan.

"But I suppose I just...well I'll just be honest, shall I?" Jeff went on, not really pausing for her to respond. And his next words made Pandora lean back in her seat because she thought she might just swoon. "I kissed you because I wanted to, Pan. And I wanted to because despite everything...despite it probably being wrong in a whole load of different ways...I really like you. I like you more than...than I should and I...I can't seem to...to get it out of my head, Pan. I can't seem to get _us_ out of my head!"

Pandora was pretty sure that she was starting to grin like an idiot, but he didn't seem to notice, he was much too busy attempting to justify himself.

"I know you're very young...I know what people would say but I...I don't think I'd care, really. I don't care how old you are or if people wouldn't approve. I just think you're...you're so kind and...and I feel like you really understand me and you...you make me laugh, you cheer me up when things are getting to me and...and you know you...you don't have a clue, do you? You don't have a clue how wonderful and brilliant you are, Pandora, and I think...I think that's just marvellous! And when you kissed me at Christmas you nearly scared me half to death! Because there you were...standing there looking so...so lovely and Rovena was being such a pain at the time and I took one look at you and thought...Merlin if only! And then you kissed me and I thought I could...I could so easily have kissed you back...!"

"But you didn't." Pandora pointed out, and Jeff reached to rub a weary hand across his eyes, admitting:

"No, I was trying to be decent." he looked somewhat abashed to admit: "But I can't do it, Pan. I...I can't carry on the way things are...can't stay being decent. I know that's bad, but I can't just ignore you any more..."

Pandora felt rather numb as he reached forward to lace their fingers together, expression abruptly nervous as he asked:

"Are you...angry?"

Pandora found herself giving a somewhat high pitched chuckle.

"Am I angry that you...want us to be...together?" she asked, the words feeling quite strange, and he laughed too and admitted:

"Well it sounds stupid, doesn't it? When you put it like that..."

"Yes it does. And I'm not angry in the slightest. I'm...I'm the exact opposite of angry, Jeff, I'm..." she struggled to think of an adjective grand enough, resorting to throwing her arms up as she exclaimed: "SO, so happy!"

Jeff let out a enormous sigh of relief, and with that he reached to throw his arms around her, crushing her against his chest as he exclaimed:

"Oh thank Merlin, what a relief! I've been panicking for days...weeks, even!"

Pandora felt as if perhaps she ought feel a little more worried about her total lack of care for their situation. She should probably be worried about lots of things. What about Rovena? Wasn't it wrong to be having this conversation whilst she and Jeff were still together? How were they going to tell her? What if she reacted badly? What about Pandora's parents? What were they going to say? And her friends, what would they think?

But she felt as if she had been waiting for this moment for days, almost expecting it, and nothing else seemed to matter, nothing else at all...

"What about Rovena?" she wondered, just to prove to herself that her head wasn't completely in the clouds, and she felt a sudden urge to shiver when Jeff turned to press a kiss to her cheek.

"Don't you worry about that, Sweetheart." he told her, smoothing her hair as he pulled her into a tighter embrace. "Leave it with me, I'll sort it out."

"What're you going to do?"

"I don't know, Pan. Don't worry about it though, I'll think of something..."

"D'you think Rovena's going to be angry?"

"Merlin, I'm not sure I can even think to care!" Leaning back so that he could gaze at her face, Jeff sighed and admitted: "It's not going to be easy, you know...this."

"Nothing worth while is ever easy." Pandora recalled, and she thought of her grandfather's love letter to her grandmother and smiled at the memory. She supposed thinking about her sugar-coated vision of her grandparents' relationship over the past few days had left her to have grand expectations of love. But wasn't it truly supposed to be that way? Wasn't love simply grand?

When Jeff continued to look apprehensive she reached to give his arm a comforting squeeze and told him: "I'll try for us, if you will. I...I love you, I really do!"

"Then I'm the luckiest man alive." Jeff told her, face lighting up at such a declaration, and then he laughed and told her: "Come here!"

It was like soaring, kissing Jeff Fawley. It was the most wonderful and euphoric feeling that the teenager had ever experienced in her entire life...

But Pandora had never really kissed anybody before. She felt a bit silly, like she didn't really know what she was doing...

She supposed Jeff knew well enough for both of them. After all he seemed to have spent the past Merlin knew how long snogging Rovena Luga senseless and doing Merlin knew what else...

Pandora felt instantly foolish. And young. And silly. And...

"Pan?"

She'd been in such a wild tangle of thoughts that she quite failed to notice that he had stopped kissing her.

"Hm?" she mumbled, feeling herself blush, and he looked amused, reaching to press a hand to her cheek.

"What's wrong?" he asked, thumb scuffing her skin as he gazed at her, and she found herself adverting her gaze in embarrassment, mumbling:

"Nothing..."

"Doesn't seem like nothing."

"I know but...it's just...I was thinking..."

"Hm?"

"You and...and Rovena..."

Jeff's brow wrinkled in frustration, but he consented to asking:

"Yes?"

"Well it's just...she's...she's been with you a while..."

"So?"

"I mean you've been...together...a lot and I...I've never really...I mean I don't think I really..."

Jeff gave a soft snort of laughter.

"Oh Pan!" he laughed, shifting her sideways until she could rest her head against his shoulder. "Don't go comparing yourself with Rovena, for goodness sake!"

"Why not?" Pandora wondered dully.

"Because!" Jeff exclaimed, hugging her tightly. "You're worth a million of her, that's why!"

"Yes but she's a...a..."  
"A what?"

Pandora wanted to say a slut, but didn't quite have the nerve.

"She knows more about...men than I do." she decided, and Jeff laughed again and asked:

"What d'you need to know about men for, Pan? I'm a man, aren't I? I reckon I know enough about them for both of us!"

And she supposed that probably made sense, believed him when he promised he didn't care what she did and didn't know.

He said he'd show her if she wanted.

And she'd not been quite sure what he meant, but at the time saying anything but yes just didn't occur to her.

He kissed her again and it was different after a little while. He'd reached with a hand to carefully prise her mouth open and before she knew it they were really kissing, properly kissing like couples did in movies and his hands were in her hair, stroking her face, tugging at her clothes. And it was exciting and frightening and wonderful and terrible and just how she imagined it and totally alien. She didn't think things would go any further, thought it might all stop in an instant, thought he might come to his senses before they strayed too far into the unknown. But he seemed totally lost to her, she realised, totally unaware of his surroundings and to think he was so enamoured with her made her dizzy and bolder and beautiful and the swell of excitement in her chest crushed the fluttering butterflies in her stomach. And when she felt his hands slip lightly up the hem of her skirt, fingers fumbling with the hems of her underwear she ignored the instant bout of panic that assaulted her chest and swore she wouldn't stop him.

She liked the aftermath better than the act itself, she discovered a short while later as the two of them lay curled up upon the sofa together. She liked that he liked it, she supposed, more than simply liking it herself. It had been sort of nice. Not as nice as she had expected. It had hurt a bit, really, but she didn't care. She just enjoyed watching the smile on his face afterwards, feeling him hug her tightly and mumbled rather sleepily into her hair. It was nice to be desired, to make him smile so, and she wished they could fall asleep together there and stay there forever, but all too soon they were fumbling with stray clothing and attempting to smarten up before Teddy appeared to take her home again.

Everything was different after that.

Pandora wished she could stay at SEWS forever. Sometimes she didn't want to go home, and when she told him this Jeff would laugh and wink and say: Wouldn't that be nice?

Amongst others they acted as if nothing had happened. It was important, Jeff said, not to cause a fuss or a scene. They had to wait, he said, until the time was right, until they were ready to face the world.

By the world Pandora suspected he meant her parents. She didn't tell Teddy or Carrie a single thing about her new boyfriend. After all, Rovena was still in the picture and she didn't think they would understand. They'd say it was cheating, they'd say Jeff was too old or Pandora was too young and there would be arguments and Teddy would probably send Howlers...

Rovena was the biggest obstacle of all, mind you. Jeff said they had to wait for the right time to tell her the truth, though he didn't seem to quite know when the right time might be. Pandora wished he would hurry up. She couldn't stand watching Rovena waltz into SEWS as if nothing had happened, couldn't bear to watch Jeff greet her with enthusiasm, call her Sweetheart, kiss her...

"Must you kiss her?" she'd asked Jeff some three weeks later, and Jeff had laughed and asked:

"Well she'd think something was wrong if I didn't!" At the look Pandora shot him he'd reached to smooth her hair soothingly and told her: "Come on, Sweetheart, don't be like that. We have to do things properly, don't we? I know you don't like her, but they're threatening to deport her family back to Albania, for Merlin's sake! We don't want to be cruel to her, do we?"

Pandora had felt a bit guilty after that.

Jeff said he only kissed Rovena when it was strictly necessary. He said he was counting, said he'd wait until he and Pandora were alone and kiss her twice as much. The thought made Pandora giggle.

Time dragged on and Rovena was still there, but Jeff seemed more and more able to shake her off, make excuses not to see her, and when he wasn't busy hiding from Rovena, running SEWS, or studying his papers, he'd try and spend time with Pandora instead. They spent most of their time in the hall at SEWS, it was an easy place to meet, and they'd sit together on the sofa and he'd kiss her and make her laugh and tell her he couldn't believe his luck.

It all nearly fell apart the following week.

Imogen had been late coming to apparate Pandora home and so the squib had wandered into the little kitchen off the hallways at SEWS to do a little tidying up. She'd heard voices, been curious because she'd thought she'd left Jeff alone, only to spot him through a crack in the door, sat upon their sofa, Rovena straddling his lap, her arms locked tightly around his neck as she cut him off mid-laugh with such a firm kiss that Jeff was forced to grab the back of her jeans to keep her from sliding off his lap, and Pandora thought she might very well vomit at the sight of them.

She cried herself to sleep that evening and had a good cry again when she woke up the following morning. When she saw him that lunchtime, alone in the kitchen where she had spied upon him the night before, he seemed rather quiet and she had wanted to cry yet again.

"You went and shagged her, didn't you?!" she'd accused miserably, and she'd been certain of it, she could tell, he looked positively guilty.

She'd panicked a bit a moment later when he'd flung the damp cloth he was holding into the sink and declared:

"That's it, I've bloody well had enough!" But then he had taken a step forward and reached to throw his arms around her, hugging her tightly as he insisted: "Don't worry, Sweetheart. I'll do it. I'll dump her when I see her tomorrow night."

And Pandora had felt euphoric and had failed to resist the urge to let out a squeal of excitement.

Perhaps Rovena would want to leave with Valbona after all.

Valbona was due to leave upon the day in question, which just so happened to be Remus and Dora's wedding anniversary. The couple had, for some weeks, been planning a big family dinner to celebrate the occasion, and though Pandora had promised to help set things up that morning she received an owl from Jeff that made her determined to change her plans.

"I want to go to Diagon Alley, Dad!" she insisted excitedly that morning over breakfast. "Jeff needs help with shopping!"

"Having another party, are you?" Carrie had asked, and Pandora had told her:

"Not really, he just wants supplies for the kitchen. Oh! And we're going to put out some collection boxes, you know, so people can donate to SEWS!"

Upon flooing Dora some minutes later, Teddy had been commanded by his mother to let Pandora go wherever she pleased. Dora had some shopping to do herself that morning, she said, and she and Valbona were popping into London within the hour to pick up a present for Remus that she had ordered some days previously.

And so it was that Pandora spent a very enjoyable hour in Diagon Alley with Jeff, going round the shops hand in hand, buying the odd grocery or two, before heading to Flourish and Blotts, whose owner, Jeff said, had agreed to take one of their collection boxes.

"Can you go and pop it on the counter for me?" Jeff had asked once they had stepped inside, and when he handed over the little wooden box Pandora had frowned to find it seemed surprisingly heavy. She placed a couple more boxes around the shop whilst Jeff browsed the books and then the two of them had headed back outside. Pandora had been about to suggest they go and buy an icecream or a drink, only Jeff had suddenly reached to grab hold of her by the hand, pulling her across the street until they were stood just down an alleyway by a shop.

"I want to ask you something, Sweetheart." Jeff said, leaning against the wall so that he could regard her seriously, and Pandora frowned a little at his tone and wondered:

"What's that?"

"Do you love me?" Jeff asked seriously, and she felt a stab of apprehension that he might think her still upset from the day before.

"Of course I do!" she exclaimed, reaching to fling her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She was about to tell him how sorry she was for doubting him for even a moment, tell him what a lovely time she was having with him that morning, but then he said:

"You make me so happy, did you know that?"  
She felt a little too abashed to answer.

"It's hard for me sometimes you know, Pan," he said, drawing back from her. "Being happy, I mean. Sometimes I feel like...like nobody cares, you know? About people like us."

"That's why we've got each other, Jeff." Pandora told him, bemused when he shook his head vigorously.

"But that's not good enough, is it Pan? That's just...just not fair! And I thought...with the Squib Pride March and...and all our posters and the like it...it might make a difference!"

"People are just ignorant." Pandora pointed out, jumping a little when he reached to grasp hold of her by the hands, exclaimed:  
"Exactly, Sweetheart! Wizards are ignorant! That's why we have to be a bit more...you know..."

Pandora wasn't sure she did know. She offered him a questioning raised eyebrow.

"We have to be louder, Pan!" he said, sounding suddenly excited. "We have to be bolder!"

"Mm..."

"And I've been thinking about it a lot, Pan. For ages! And I know what we have to do!"

And with that, Pandora watched him reach into his pocket to extract a strange circular device with a small red button in the centre.

"What's that?" Pandora wondered, frowning deeply, and Jeff glanced over her shoulder with a grin at the passing shoppers, before pulling her further down the alleyway a few steps.

"It's a surprise!" he told her, holding it out for the girl to take.

"A surprise?"

"For the shoppers, Pan!"

"What like...fireworks or something?" Pandora wondered, thinking of the clever contraptions Uncle George set up for firework displays on Bonfire Night.

"Exactly!" Jeff said, reaching to turn her around to face the street again, the contraption held in her hands. "And since you're my special girl, I thought I'd let you hit the button!"

Pandora felt her heart skip a beat to be called special and as she looked out into the street at the countless shoppers she felt herself hold a breath in excitement...

"Go on then!" Jeff said, giving her shoulders an encouraging squeeze...

Pandora Lupin pressed the button...

She waited for fireworks, started a little countdown in her head...

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

BOOM!

Pandora watched in mute horror, jerking backwards in shock as across the street the shop that she had left just five minutes previously..._exploded._

A great burst of fire flashed through the windows, shattering glass and sending rubble flying as the roof collapsed and the walls were blasted from the foundations in a torrent of dust and smoke, the air ringing with screams and wails and had Jeff's grip upon her not tightened Pandora might very well have fainted at the sudden chaos...

And as the dust began to settle, amidst the crowds of panicked witches and wizards running this way and that, Pandora watched numbly as a large, stooped figure became slowly visible amongst the rubble, huge shovel-like hands scrambling desperately to fling shards of bricks and lumps of mortar aside...

And as Valbona Luga frantically dug away at the smouldering remains of the collapsed building, Pandora felt her heart sop dead in her chest as she heard the Albanian woman's boomed, hoarse voice shrieking at the top of her lungs:

"DORA?! DORA!"


End file.
